Is there a formula to determine who claims the kid on taxes when parents are divorced?

Answer 1

Usually this is gone over in your divorce decree.

Usually the custodial parent gets to claim the child. If the parents share custody, then the parents alternate claiming years. (Every other year)

Answer 2

My husband is an accountant, and we have a blended family. We both have an ex-spouse, and both have two children from our first marriages.
The kids have moved around a bit over the years, but he says that tax laws state that the child has to live with you for more than half of the year (six months and one day will do it). This is often verified by where the children are registered in school. You also have to be able to prove that you provided more than 50% of the financial cost to raise them, although the place of residence carries the most weight, since the support can be harder to prove.
From my personal experience, it is better to work it out with the ex whenever possible. Usually, the first to file and claim the child will get the credit initially, and if that person does not have the right to do so, you will be looking at a lengthy review process. It may not get straightened out until the following tax year.
Good Luck!

Answer 3

There is no formula, but there is a publication devoted to issues of divorced parents, IRS Publication 504, Divorced or Separated Individuals.

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p504.pdf

First, assume there is a custodial parent who lives with the child more than six months of the year.

Without a waiver from the custodial parent, if the child meets the criteria to be a qualifying child of the custodial parent, the custodial parent claims the child.

With a waiver from the custodial parent, the noncustodial parent could claim the child only if

1. One or both parents provided over half the support for the child.

2. One or both parents lived with the child for more than half the year.

Now, assume neither parent lives with the child for more than half the year.

If neither parent is the custodial parent, then the above two conditions 1. and 2. still need to be satisfied. Then if one of the parents provided over half the the child's support, and the child earned less than $3,400 (for 2007), and the child was not a qualifying child of someone else (usually a grandparent), then that parent could claim the child as a qualifying relative.

Finally, if both parents have equal claim to the dependency exemption for a child, then the parent with the higher adjusted gross income wins the tiebreaker and may claim the child.

Answer 4

Yo Ohio--- Most of the time it is named in the divorce. But the parent how has provided 50% or more support for the tax year is allowed to claim children for income tax. Usually divorcd couples work it out so the most money is returned. Who claimes the clhildrem.

Answer 5

Days with Mom:
Days with Dad:

Whoever the kids stay with the most gets to claim the kids on their tax return.

If the divorce decree specifies who gets the exemption claim and IF the wording of the decree meets the exacting requirements laid out in Federal law (many don't) then you'll have to abide by the decree. If the divorce decree doesn't meet the Federal requirements the IRS is required by law to ignore the decree and award the exemption claim based on Federal law.

Answer 6

it should be the parent who pays support, since they are paying taxes on the money, and then paying it to the custodial parent tax free!! My divorce decree gave all exemptions this way. This was years ago, but something could be worked out where one parent buys them from the other based on who gets the biggest credit, I.E. higher tax bracket.

Answer 7

I'm not 100% sure, but I thought that this issue was usually decided in the divorce decree.

Answer 8

If there's no legal paperwork saying who gets the exemption, then it goes to the custodial parent.

Answer 9

Usually it's in the court decree; if not, it's the parent with custody.

Answer 10

We specified this in our divorce agreement.