My 2 year old daughter has lived with me for 8mnths now (we used to live with my dad) I want to claim her I am self employed i babysit can i claim her? my dad is trying to claim her but he has not done taxes yet so i am trying to beat him to it !
2007-02-05 14:07:52 · 5 answers · asked by s v 1 in Business & Finance ➔ Taxes ➔ United States
Are you single or married? I will assume you are single.
Since you and your daughter did not live with your father for six months last year, neither you nor your daughter are qualifying children of your father.
Your daughter is your qualifying child. You would claim your daughter, unless you can be claimed as a dependent yourself.
You can be claimed as a dependent of your father if you made less than $3,300 and your father provided over half of your support.
If you made over $3,300 then you are not a dependent and can claim yourself and your daughter.
2007-02-05 21:52:05 · answer #1 · answered by ninasgramma 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Since your daughter is your qualifying child, your father cannot claim her now since she did not live with him for more than half of the year. If both of you claim her, the IRS will contact you both and ask for proof of the entitlement to the exemption.
The first person to get their return processed will get their refund but should not spend it because if the decision goes against them they'll have additional tax to pay. If you try to e-file and your return is rejected you'll have to file a paper return.
Ideally you should tell your father that you'll be claiming her. You might want to download IRS Pub 501 from the IRS website and show him what the rules are.
You may also be entitled to the Earned Income Tax Credit. You'll need this since you will have to pay Self Employment tax on your babysitting income.
2007-02-05 22:40:52 · answer #2 · answered by Bostonian In MO 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If she didn't live with your dad for over half of 2006, then he can't claim her. Even if she did, if you also lived there then, so she lived with you over half of the year, you can claim her, and your dad can't claim her if you do. It's not a matter of "beating him to it" - if you both claim her, the IRS will send each of you a letter asking you to prove that you're allowed to. If you were both eligible to claim her because she lived over half the year with both of you, then you'll get the exemption if you take it, and your dad's will be disallowed.
If your dad can also legally claim her, it would be a good idea to talk to him and work out which of you is going to claim her. See who would get the most benefit by claiming her.
2007-02-05 22:52:20 · answer #3 · answered by Judy 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
he doesn't have the legal right to claim her if she has lived with you for over six months. he can try to claim her, but when the irs questions both of you, yo will be the one getting the deduction, not him. have3 your taxes done by a preparer so you get the full benefit of deductions for the business use of your home if you use you home for daycare. it can save you a lot on taxes by using all the deductions you can take, and the expense is deductible for next year. you will need utility bills, mortgage payments, food expenses for the children you care for, etc for the taxes to be done for best results.
2007-02-05 22:18:00 · answer #4 · answered by de bossy one 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Great. Piss off the old man. That'll get things going hot in your family!
The rule is: He or She who provided more than half the support gets the right to claim the child. If YOU made less than $3200 or so last year, you probably didn't even earn enough to support yourself, let alone the baby. YOU might be a dependent of dad, too.
There's not enough facts to determine who gets to claim whom here. But rushing to file a return so dad doesn't get money out of your pocket is really stupid and likely to cost you more than the $195 H&R charges you.
Tax Advisor
2007-02-05 22:14:45 · answer #5 · answered by WealthBuilder 4 · 0⤊ 2⤋