My wife & I married in June. She has a 7y/o son that she claims as dependent. He does not generate his own income and he lives in the houses with us for the entire year.
2007-10-30 23:29:18 · 8 answers · asked by marko 1 in Business & Finance ➔ Taxes ➔ United States
Also, I am in the 28% tax bracket, my wife is in the 25% tax bracket. Not sure if that matters.
2007-10-30 23:38:54 · update #1
Being able to claim a dependent is necessary if you want to take advantage of various child-related tax benefits, including the child tax credit, the earned income credit, the childcare tax credit, and the head of household filing status.
Qualifying Children
To be claimed as a qualifying child, the person must meet four criteria:
Relationship — the person must be your child, step child, adopted child, foster child, brother or sister, or a descendant of one of these (for example, a grandchild or nephew).
Residence — for more than half the year, the person must have the same residence as you do. (More than half a year means, at minimum, six months and one day.)
Age — the person must be under age 19 at the end of the year, or under age 24 and a be a full-time student for at least five months out of the year, or any age and totally and permanently disabled.
Support — the person did not provide more than half of his or her own support during the year.
TIPS
The qualifying child must live with you for more than half the year.
The old rules stated that the taxpayer must provide over half the support. The new rules state that the qualifying child must not provide more than half of his or her own support. The change makes it easier for families relying on public assistance, charity, and gifts from family members to claim a dependent.
If a child does not meet the criteria to be a "qualifying child," you may still be able to claim the child as a dependent using the tie-breaker tests or the qualifying relative tests.
Tie-Breaker Tests for Claiming a Qualifying Child
If two or more taxpayers claim a dependent as a qualifying child in the same year, the IRS will use the following tie-breaker tests to determine which taxpayer is eligible to claim the dependent. The tie-breaker tests are listed in order of priority.
The child will be the qualifying child of:
the parent,
the parent with whom the child lived for the longest time during the year,
if the time was equal, the parent with the highest adjusted gross income,
if no taxpayer is the child's parent, the taxpayer with the highest adjusted gross income.
TIPS
A child can be the dependent of at most one taxpayer.
There are normally 365 days in a year, so chances are the child will spend at least one day more with one parent than the other parent.
If the child spends exactly equal time with both parents, the parent with the higher income will be able to claim the dependent.
The non-qualifying parent can claim the dependent ONLY IF the qualifying parent releases his or her claim to the dependency exemption using IRS Form 8332, Release of Claim to Exemption for Child of Divorced or Separated Parents (PDF document).
2007-10-30 23:43:42 · answer #1 · answered by Fitnesstrainer 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You, nor your spouse, files as head of household. That filing status is only for unmarried taxpayers. You file as married filing jointly or married filing separately.
If you file married filing jointly, you will claim your stepson as your dependent. For tax purposes, a stepchild has the same tax treatment as a child.
If you file married filing separately, then you or your spouse, but not both, may claim the child. If you cannot agree who claims the child on separate returns, the parent (meaning you or your spouse) with the higher AGI can claim the child if there is a dispute.
Since the child has no income, but lives with you, the amount of support provided by you for the child is not relevant.
2007-10-30 23:38:07 · answer #2 · answered by ninasgramma 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Yes, if you file as married filing separately, either of you, but not both, is allowed to claim him now that you are married. But you would probably be better off filing a joint return - then you'd just claim him on that.
The answers that say you should file as head of household are WRONG - you may NOT file that way since you are married, that's only for someone who is NOT married.
2007-10-31 03:55:33 · answer #3 · answered by Judy 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Now that you are married you have two choices for filing status, Married Filing Jointly and Married Filing Separately. In nearly all cases a joint return will result in less tax. You may claim the boy on your joint return. Should you decide to file as Married Filing Separately, ONE of you could claim the child on your separate return.
2007-10-31 01:22:05 · answer #4 · answered by Bostonian In MO 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Whoever had custody of him for the majority of the year. If you claim the child and she contests it, you will have to be able to show that you had custody of the child for more than 6 months and provided for the majority of his expenses. This can be researched down do Days even HOURS that you had custody if the mother is willing to fight for the claim of the child on taxes.
2016-05-26 04:33:13 · answer #5 · answered by ? 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes, you can. You can claim anybody as a dependent if you are helping to support them, and in this case it more than qualifies.
2007-10-30 23:31:51 · answer #6 · answered by Jean-Francois 5 · 0⤊ 2⤋
Yes, as long as no one else is claiming him. Don't forget to file for head of household too!
2007-10-30 23:33:23 · answer #7 · answered by Debi 4 · 0⤊ 3⤋
yes if you claim married and joint you are head of household and he can be claimed only once.
2007-10-30 23:33:13 · answer #8 · answered by kissybertha 6 · 0⤊ 2⤋