You have two people who have been separated for over a year. One works, the other has not worked in 5 years. Last year, the one who works claimed their child on their taxes with the agreement of the other parent. This year, the one who has not worked in 5 years, claimed the child without the working parents knowlege or consent. How can this be done if that person has no income, and with no income, no taxes to file? Is it legal?
2007-02-15 10:47:24 · 4 answers · asked by Anonymous in Business & Finance ➔ Taxes ➔ United States
They share custody. The child is with one parent for one week...the other parent for a week. Because of this, there is no child support paid either as they have the child EQUAL time.
2007-02-15 11:07:30 · update #1
The IRS rule is that the custodial parent gets the exemption. If that parent had zero income and zero tax liability, claiming the child would be pointless. If both parties claimed the child, the IRS would go through their normal procedures to decide who gets the exemption. In this case, it would probably be awarded to the parent with the higher income, especially if the other parent's income is zero.
2007-02-15 10:53:09 · answer #1 · answered by Bostonian In MO 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The parent who works should go ahead and file, on paper by mail, claiming the child.
By IRS tiebreaker rules, if both people are parents of the child and the child lives with them for equal amounts of time, the parent with the higher AGI gets the exemption.
Warning: the other parent must have had SOME income this year, or they wouldn't have had anything to file a return on.
2007-02-15 14:58:44 · answer #2 · answered by Judy 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Usually in a separation or divorce agreement it states in it who will be claiming the children. I have four and the court gave him the two oldest and me the two youngest. Even if your husband doesn't have a regular job but earned money lets say shoveling snow or odd jobs he can claim that money and therefore make himself eligible for the earned income credit. Although only one of you can take the credit. I bet thats what he did and why he did it without your knowledge.
2007-02-15 10:59:42 · answer #3 · answered by Born2Bloom 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes if they earned income and had tax withheld they can file taxes and you can claim them as a dependant. They just have to mark down that you are claiming them as a dependant.
2016-05-24 04:49:28 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋