Please answer this if you can?

Question

I called IRS and was told my financee can infact claim me. However the man I spoke with said to fill out page 18 of publication 501 to determine if my financee paid more then half of my daughters support. He told me to just print it out and do it in my own time prior to filing so we knew for sure.
After filling it out it is determined he can in fact claim her but how do we PROVE what we paid for food, heat, electricity, travel expenses. clothing and such is what we actually paid. I dont keep track of what he spends on her I mean who actually keeps all the receipts from travel expenses to DR's, clothing, food, entertainment and such?

Furthermore while talking to this man who was friendly but put me on hold for a while he said that they do infact count her childsupport and SSI {disability}as "income" even though its non taxable? Is this correct? When I was working and claiming my daughter I NEVER ONCE claimed her SSI or Childsupport I was told I didnt have to it was not counted

No I am not filing taxes he is filing HOH I have not worked since we relocated in Sep of 05. Her biological father {my ex husband} can not claim her at all, that is in our divorce decree. And I have called a CPA they told me yes, H&R told me no so I called IRS at the toll free number listed on their website. And we do not do "my money your money" we have one account that his income, childsupport and disability all goes into"

What do you mean conflicting between H&R and IRS I am filing FEDERAL INCOME and I asked a CPA was well as H&R and they both are conflicting

Answer 1

It depends on the laws of your state. If your state recognizes these relationships, then you can. If your state doesn't (for example WV doesn't) then he cannot claim you as a dependent. Which may be why you got conflicting information from the IRS and from H&R. The IRS didn't ask you what state you are from and H&R knew already.

What I meant by conflicting information is that according to your question, you asked the IRS and got one answer (yes, he can) and called H&R and got another answer (no, he can't). That's called conflicting information. If it were me, I'd call back the IRS (they are the only ones that matter anyway lol) and ask them the question again, tell them what state you are in, then get the person's Badge # and document what your conversation was. That way if they tell you your fiance can claim you, you have documentation that says it was okay (the Badge # is important). To double check, call H&R again and ask them to explain why they say he can't (believe me, tax preparers can be wrong too). If they say it's because your state doesn't recognize you as a qualifying relative or member of the household, then I'd really question him being able to claim you because of state laws. If they can't explain why, and you plan on having them do your tax return, then go in armed with your documentation and they can always double check with the IRS agent.

I'm a tax preparer - the owner of the company I work for has called the IRS himself and received two different answers to the same question you called about. The problem is - WV does not recognize unmarried couples and the IRS missed that - but Ohio does - they have common law marriages and we work in both states. Good luck.

Answer 2

You probably won't be asked to prove any of this. If he pays the majority of the costs and you have at least some form of proof -- cancelled checks for rent and utilities, for example, you should be OK.

Now, it gets a bit messy with the SSI and child support. First off, neither of those is taxable to you so rest easy on that. But, the IRS will presume that the child support went for your daughter's support, period. So, you will need some means of proving that your fiancee paid more towards her total support than anyone else and also paid more than half. They may well treat the SSI in a similar way if it's payable to your daughter for her disability.

In your situation, you should start keeping careful records, backed up with receipts, just in case the exemption is ever questioned.

Answer 3

hmmm... then why would anyone have kids and get married. Just move with people and claim them as dependants, cause you pay for electricity and food and such.

I would get a second opinion - preferably from a CPA who will stand behind your claim come audit time. You can not contest the IRS saying you talked to some guy on the phone and he says its ok. Are you paying taxes too?

Answer 4

Call a CPA or take your taxes to some place like H+R Block and let them figure it out.