If after getting divorced and having my kids costudy, and my ex pays childsupport, who deducts the kids expen?

Question

Who is the one who can claim & deduct the kids expenses and receive the tax return?..the kids are with me except he gets supervised visitation....

Answer 1

As noted by several earlier answers, you, as the custodial parent, have the dependency exemption.

There are several tax benefits that go with a qualifying child:

1. The dependency exemption
2. The Child Tax Credit and the Additional Child Tax Credit
3. Child care credit
4. Earned income credit.

If you wish, you can waive the first two benefits to the noncustodial parent. Only you would be eligible for the second two benefits. You can receive all the benefits, or the other parent can get the first two and you get the last two.

File your return as early as you can. If the noncustodial parent claims the children before you do, you will have a delay receiving your refund while the IRS straightens it out.

Answer 2

If you're referring to kids expenses as unreimbursed medical it may depend on the state where you live. My state allows the non custodial parent to deduct $100 each year then we split the unreimbursed medical. As my child lives with me, I photocopy the receipts and give to him(which reminds me he owes me some money!) As far as the day to day, clothing, food, school supplies I would say that is your responsibility. for "large ticket" items like braces, school tuition that should be split. It would have been advisable to discuss and determine all of the above at the time of the divorce. The tax return my ex and I switch every other year. I was not in favor of this but my lawyer said it wasn't worth fighting as the court would side with him. May I add most importantly the kids are priority and should not know any conversation re: money etc. If there is nothing good to say...say nothing. It'll only hurt the kids in the long run.

Answer 3

The basic rule is that the custodial parent gets the exemption(s) for the child(ren). Federal law defines the custodial parent as the one that the children spend the most time with through the year.

The non-custodial parent MAY be given the exemption by the divorce decree HOWEVER there are very strict rules on the wording of the decree for this to happen. Many divorce decrees do not meet those requirements and if they are not met the IRS is bound by Federal law to ignore the decree and award the exemptions to the custodial parent.

Answer 4

WOW! Somebody likes to cut and paste,lol.
IRS Taxpayer Assistance Division
1-800-829-1040

Answer 5

If you have custody, you are the one who is allowed to claim them as dependents no matter how much child support he pays. He can only claim them if you give him permission in writing to claim them, and state that you won't claim them for that year (use form 8332), or if your divorce decree states that he can claim them. If the divorce decree is silent on the issue, and you don't give written permission, then you are the one who can claim them.

Answer 6

I live in California
When we went to court it was decided that the primary parent could claim them. Where they stay the most.

Answer 7

I am not sure what expenses you mean. Medical? Education? Child care? Not all expenses can be deducted. Typically, even if an expense can be deducted, you can deduct it only if it is for yourself or a dependent of yourself. "However, the noncustodial parent cannot claim the child for head of household filing status, the credit for child and dependent care expenses, the exclusion for dependent care benefits, and the earned income credit. Only the custodial parent can claim the child as a qualifying child for these four tax benefits."

Here are the rules for determining if the child is your dependent or your ex's dependents so that you know who gets the other deductions and who can claim the exemption for the child:

"Children of Divorced or Separated Parents
In most cases, because of the residency test (see item (3) under Tests To Be a Qualifying Child in Table 3, a child of divorced or separated parents will be a qualifying child of the custodial parent. However, if the child does not meet the requirements to be a qualifying child of either parent, the child may be a qualifying relative of one of the parents.

Special rule for divorced or separated parents. A child will be treated as the qualifying child or qualifying relative of his or her noncustodial parent if all of the following apply.
The parents:

Are divorced or legally separated under a decree of divorce or separate maintenance,

Are separated under a written separation agreement, or

Lived apart at all times during the last 6 months of the year.

The child received over half of his or her support for the year from the parents.

The child is in the custody of one or both parents for more than half of the year.

Either of the following applies.

The custodial parent signs a written declaration, discussed later, that he or she will not claim the child as a dependent for the year, and the noncustodial parent attaches this written declaration to his or her return. (If the decree or agreement went into effect after 1984, see Divorce decree or separation agreement made after 1984, later.)

A pre-1985 decree of divorce or separate maintenance or written separation agreement that applies to 2006 states that the noncustodial parent can claim the child as a dependent, the decree or agreement was not changed after 1984 to say the noncustodial parent cannot claim the child as a dependent, and the noncustodial parent provides at least $600 for the child's support during 2006. See Child support under pre-1985 agreement, later.




If the support of the child is determined under a multiple support agreement, this special rule for divorced or separated parents does not apply. See Multiple Support Agreement in Publication 501 for more information.

Custodial parent and noncustodial parent. The custodial parent is the parent with whom the child lived for the greater part of the year. The other parent is the noncustodial parent.

If the parents divorced or separated during the year and the child lived with both parents before the separation, the custodial parent is the one with whom the child lived for the greater part of the rest of the year.

Example.

Under the terms of your divorce, your child lived with you for 10 months of the year. The child lived with your former spouse for the other 2 months. You are considered the custodial parent.

Written declaration. The custodial parent must use either Form 8332 or a similar statement (containing the information required by the form) to make the written declaration to release the exemption to the noncustodial parent. The noncustodial parent must attach the form or statement to his or her tax return.

The exemption can be released for 1 year, for a number of specified years (for example, alternate years), or for all future years, as specified in the declaration. If the exemption is released for more than 1 year, the original release must be attached to the return of the noncustodial parent for the first year, and a copy must be attached for each later year.

Divorce decree or separation agreement made after 1984. If the divorce decree or separation agreement went into effect after 1984, the noncustodial parent can attach certain pages from the decree or agreement instead of Form 8332. To be able to do this, the decree or agreement must state all three of the following.
The noncustodial parent can claim the child as a dependent without regard to any condition, such as payment of support.

The custodial parent will not claim the child as a dependent for the year.

The years for which the noncustodial parent, rather than the custodial parent, can claim the child as a dependent.


The noncustodial parent must attach all of the following pages of the decree or agreement to his or her return.
The cover page (write the other parent's social security number on this page).

The pages that include all of the information identified in items (1) through (3) above.

The signature page with the other parent's signature and the date of the agreement.




The noncustodial parent must attach the required information even if it was filed with a return in an earlier year.

Remarried parent. If you remarry, the support provided by your new spouse is treated as provided by you.

Child support under pre-1985 agreement. All child support payments actually received from the noncustodial parent under a pre-1985 agreement are considered used for the support of the child, even if such amounts are not actually spent for child support.

Example.

Under a pre-1985 agreement, the noncustodial parent provides $1,200 for the child's support. This amount is considered support provided by the noncustodial parent even if the $1,200 was actually spent on things other than support.

Parents who never married. This special rule for divorced or separated parents also applies to parents who never married.

Special support rules for qualifying relative. The tests that must be met for treating a child as a qualifying relative include the support test (see item (4) listed under Tests To Be a Qualifying Relative in Table 3). The following special rules apply for determining whether the support test is met.

Alimony. Payments to your spouse that are includible in his or her gross income as either alimony, separate maintenance payments, or similar payments from an estate or trust, are not treated as a payment for the support of a dependent.

Remarried parent. If you remarry, the support provided by your new spouse is treated as provided by you.

Special test for qualifying child of more than one person. Sometimes, a child meets the relationship, age, residency, and support tests to be a qualifying child of more than one person. (For a description of these tests, see list items (1) through (4) under Tests To Be a Qualifying Child in Table 3.) Although the child is a qualifying child of each of these persons, only one person can actually treat the child as a qualifying child. To meet this special test, you must be the person who can treat the child as a qualifying child.

If you and another person have the same qualifying child, you and the other person(s) can decide which of you will treat the child as a qualifying child. That person can take all of the following tax benefits (provided the person is eligible for each benefit) based on the qualifying child.
The exemption for the child.

The child tax credit.

Head of household filing status.

The credit for child and dependent care expenses.

The exclusion from income for dependent care benefits.

The earned income credit.

The other person cannot take any of these benefits based on this qualifying child. In other words, you and the other person cannot agree to divide these tax benefits between you.

If you and the other person(s) cannot agree on who will claim the child and more than one person files a return claiming the same child, the IRS will disallow all but one of the claims using the tie-breaker rule in Table 4.
Table 4. When More Than One Person Files a Return Claiming the Same Qualifying Child (Tie-Breaker Rule)

IF more than one person files a return claiming the same qualifying child and ... THEN the child will be treated as the qualifying child of the ...
only one of the persons is the child's parent, parent.
two of the persons are the child's parents and they do not file a joint return together, parent with whom the child lived for the longer period of time during the year.
two of the persons are the child's parents, they do not file a joint return together, and the child lived with each parent the same amount of time during the year, parent with the higher adjusted gross income (AGI).
none of the persons are the child's parent, person with the highest AGI.


Example 1—separated parents.

You, your husband, and your 10-year-old son lived together until August 1, 2006, when your husband moved out of the household. In August and September, your son lived with you. For the rest of the year, your son lived with your husband. Your son is a qualifying child of both you and your husband because your son lived with each of you for more than half the year and because he met the relationship, age, and support tests for both of you. At the end of the year, you and your husband still were not divorced, legally separated, or separated under a written separation agreement, so the special rule for divorced or separated parents does not apply.

You and your husband will file separate returns. Your husband agrees to let you treat your son as a qualifying child. This means, if your husband does not claim your son as a qualifying child, you can claim your son as a dependent and treat him as a qualifying child for the child tax credit and exclusion for dependent care benefits, if you qualify for each of those tax benefits. However, you cannot claim head of household filing status because you and your husband did not live apart the last 6 months of the year. As a result, your filing status is married filing separately, so you cannot claim the earned income credit or the credit for child and dependent care expenses.

Example 2—separated parents claim same child.

The facts are the same as in Example 1 except that you and your husband both claim your son as a qualifying child. In this case, only your husband will be allowed to treat your son as a qualifying child. This is because, during 2006, the boy lived with him longer than with you. If you claimed an exemption, the child tax credit, head of household filing status, credit for child and dependent care expenses, exclusion for dependent care benefits, or the earned income credit for your son, the IRS will disallow your claim to all these tax benefits. In addition, because you and your husband did not live apart the last 6 months of the year, your husband cannot claim head of household filing status. As a result, his filing status is married filing separately, so he cannot claim the earned income credit or the credit for child and dependent care expenses.

Applying this special test under the special rule for divorced or separated parents. If a child is treated as the qualifying child of the noncustodial parent under the special rule for divorced or separated parents described earlier, only the noncustodial parent can claim an exemption and the child tax credit for the child. However, the noncustodial parent cannot claim the child for head of household filing status, the credit for child and dependent care expenses, the exclusion for dependent care benefits, and the earned income credit. Only the custodial parent can claim the child as a qualifying child for these four tax benefits."