Can my son's father claim him on his taxes?

Question

My son's father wants to claim him as a dependent. He says that since he pays child support (a whopping $300 a month) that he is entitled to, and will take me to court if I don't agree to take turns. If he took this to court is there a chance he'll win? I don't want to spend the money to go to court if I'll lose anyways.

Answer 1

Your father's son could go to court and have your ordered to sign a form 8332. This form allows him to claim your child for dependancy and child tax credit. You would get to claim Dependant Care Expenses, Head of Household (if you qualify), and EIC (if you qualify). Tell him until he takes you to court, he is not claiming anything. Let him spend his money to take you into court. More than likely the judge will order him to get to claim the child every other year. I see this situation a least a hundred times during tax season. Hope this helps. Everyone else that said "NO" needs to go have a look at the IRS website and look up what a form 8332 is. It is for Divorced/Seperated Parents. You don't ever have to be married to even have one in place. Just another piece of advice, your son's father probably does not provide over half of his support, so you COULD fight it in court if you can prove this. If your return gets rejected at a tax place saying your son's SSN has already been used, mail your return in. The IRS will make both of you prove who has the right to claim your son. If he lives with you and you are not yet ordered to let his father claim him, the IRS will give the child's benefits to you.

Answer 2

You need to mail in your return

When 2 people claim the same child on a tax return, It raises a flag with the IRS. They will first send a letter advising that the same SSN was used twice and advise that the person who was not entitled to claim the child needs to file an amended return. Then if no one corrects the return the IRS will request from both parties to submit proof of entitlement to claim the child. The IRS will then make a detemination on who is entitled to claim the child and it the person who is seen as the one NOT allowed to claim the child will owe back any refund they received in reference to the child along with penalties and interest and their Tax return will be flagged for review for up to the next 10 years
For more clarification call the Internal Revenue Service at
1-800-829-1040

Answer 3

Under Federal law, the parent with custody gets the exemption. The parent with custody is defined as the one that the child spends the most amount of time with. If that's you, you get the exemption.

While it's possible for a divorce decree to grant the exemption to the non-custodial parent, the decree must meet VERY specific stipulations set out in Federal law to be enforceable as far as the IRS is concerned. If a non-custodial parent files the copies of the decree with their tax return and the decree does not meet the requirements set out in Federal law, the exemption claim will automatically be denied.

Only your attorney can advise you if it's worth going to court to fight the issue. There is no guarantee of how the courts may rule. But you do have the strength of Federal law on your side which says that YOU get the exemption. Many judges don't want to mess around with jurisdictional issues and may not be willing to attempt to give the exemption to the non-custodial parent especially if you don't agree to it.

Answer 4

The parent that has him in the home the majority of the time can claim him as a dependent. So if you have sole custody or your son lives with you most of the time, call his bluff and let him take you to court. He'll lose. And if he tries to claim your son as a dependent and you claim him too, that'll raise a red flag to the IRS. Yes, you'll both get audited, but you'll come out of that one OK and he'll end up paying penalties and possibly getting charged with filing a fraudulent return.

Answer 5

There's always a chance that a judge would agree that the two of you should take turns, but probably not if he's paying only $300 a month.

Unless there is a court decree that he is allowed to claim him, then he can't if you are the custodial parent - YOU can, or you can sign a paper allowing him to, but he can't without your permission.

Answer 6

you have custody . and provide more than half of the up keep I am sure because 300 per month is nothing ..you claim him on your taxes.. seems if 300 a month is all he pays then he most likely does not have the money to take you to court ...if he does the judge will know first hand how stupid this fk tard really is ..you claim him , the ex is just blowing smoke ....

Answer 7

If you and your son does not live with the father then he cannot claim him as a dependent. He can claim the money spent towards child support. Go ahead and let him take you to court. This way he will hear how stupid his thoughts were coming from a judge whereas with you, he'll just ignore.

Answer 8

I do not believe your husband can claim the child if the child resides with you more then 6 months out of the year. If you are claiming the child on your taxes, your husband is not allowed to. It is whoever the child lives with more then 6 months out of the year. My husband also pays child support and we aren't able to claim that child on our tax returns. The mother does, that is who the child is with over 6 months of the year. If anything, you can call like H&R block and ask them, but im pretty sure you are the one who has the rights to claim him. Good luck!

Answer 9

you get no tax breaks for paying child support only alimoy. not sure where the previous poster got her misinformation... whoever the kid lives with most has teh right to claim him. this should have been extablished in your divorce agreement...