My husband has full custody of his son and we have provided for him for the whole year. Now that I am getting everything ready for the first of the year I am wondering if I might be entitled to earned income credit for his son. My husband will not be filing and I will be filing as head of household. Does anyone know if I should be getting money back or not. Oh and we got married over the summer and I have not adopted the son or anything like that. But I am providing for him financially. Let me know what you think, Thanks
2007-12-02 17:54:45 · 9 answers · asked by Krystal 2 in Business & Finance ➔ Taxes ➔ United States
My husband is disabled and his only income is unearned income so we were told he doesn't need to file. But I could be wrong about that too. This tax stuff is confusing!!!
2007-12-02 18:00:45 · update #1
You can't file as Head of Household unless you have lived separately from your husband for the entire last half of the year and paid more than half the cost of providing a home for your dependent child.
Unless that applies -- and it doesn't sound like it does -- your only filing choices are Married Filing Jointly or Married Filing Separately. If you file separate returns you may NOT claim the Earned Income Credit or most of the other tax credits.
From what you describe, you should be filing a joint return with your new husband. You can always file a joint return even if only one of you had any income.
2007-12-02 18:02:05 · answer #1 · answered by Bostonian In MO 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Uh, no you are not allowed to file as head of household since you mention a husband and if you are married, you are not allowed to file as head of household. You do better anyway filing a joint return. You can file joint even if all of the income is yours. And on a joint return you can claim his son as a dependent, and if he's under 17 you'll get the child tax credit for him. If your income qualifies for EIC, then yes, on the joint return, his son is an eligible child for that purpose too.
If you hadn't gotten married, the answer would be different - you could not legally claim his son, so could not file as head of household or use his son as a qualifying child for EIC.
With your additional info - unearned income does not mean he wouldn't have to file, but if his only income is social security disability he wouldn't have when he was single. When you file a joint return it's possible that some of it will be taxable, but only if half of his social security plus all of your other income for both of you is over $32,000. If he receives some other kind of disability payments, it might or might not be taxable - would need to know just where it's coming from.
2007-12-03 02:38:27 · answer #2 · answered by Judy 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If you live with your husband, you cannot file as HOH. You can file as MFS, but cannot claim EIC.
Your valid filing options are:
Married filing jointly, with your husband as equal exemptions and claim the child as a dependent. If the son is younger than 17, you are eligible for the child tax credit and you may even be eligible for EIC.
Married filing separately. You could claim the child as your stepson (adoption wasn't required), but this only gets you the child tax credit.
Head of Household *isn't* an option. To qualify for HOH you must have both a qualifying child *and* not share your house with your spouse at any time from july 1st to december 31st. The IRS is going to be hardpressed to believe that newlyweds didn't live together.
The Additional Info.
If your husband was still single and that was all of his income, then yeah, he probably didn't have a filing requirement. Now that you are married, the rules are slightly different. You can always file jointly (and it's probably to your advantage to). If the disability income is from social security and it's more than $3400, he actually does have a filing requirement now that he's married.
2007-12-03 02:00:22 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
Since you are married, your stepson has the same tax benefit for you as your own child.
Now as for your filing status, you must file as "Married Filing Jointly" to get all the benefits of claiming the child. This is more beneficial than any other filing status. Since you are married, and I presume living with your husband and his child, you cannot file as Head of Household.
You husband does not have to have any income subject to tax in order to file a joint return with you.
So go ahead and file the joint return, list the child as "son" even if you are the primary taxpayer on the return, and get those benefits.
That is, unless:
1. The child did not live in your home for more than six months of the year. In this case, the child's mother must give written permission for you and your spouse to claim the child (Form 8332).
2. There is a court document assigning the exemption for the child to the mother.
2007-12-03 12:20:06 · answer #4 · answered by ninasgramma 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Why are you filing as "Head of Household"? If your husband is living with you then you have two choices. You can file "Married filing Separately" which is the least desirable filing status to ever use or "Married Filing Jointly". If you and your husband are living together that you are not entitle to use the Head of Household status because of your martial status as of Dec 31st of this year and every year.
2007-12-03 13:12:07 · answer #5 · answered by Gary 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You can get a tax credit for anyone you have supported for
at least six months of the year. But you need to prove that
he was being supported by you or whomever supported him.
He doesn't need to be related for you to get the credit. Just
witnesses to verify you or whomever, supported him and
provided him a home with all of the entitlements he's due.
If you have any medical or dental bills or something to show
further evidence, hold onto them, as they may call you in to
verify your additional dependant.
I would think that if you've been supporting your husband,
that you can claim him as well. Apparently he hasn't earned
enough to file for the year. So I would think you would qualify
as head of the household since you are the only means of
supporting your family at the present time. I would call Legal
Aid to ask about this in your state, they will give you the legal-
eze about the matter. I'd be safe to avoid an audit.
2007-12-03 02:02:46 · answer #6 · answered by Lynn 7 · 1⤊ 4⤋
You can claim the child on your taxes if you can prove that the child has lived in your house for more than half of the year, was dependent on you for more than half of his expenses, and other qualifications... I'll attach the link to IRS Publication 972.
Bottom line - If you two are filling jointly, than it does not matter that the child is not biologically Yours... as long as the child is HIS and that you meet the IRS requirements. You should have little problem getting the credit.
2007-12-03 02:07:17 · answer #7 · answered by amy1272hou 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Yes you can file the son,but some states require you to have proof,that the child has lived with you for the past 12 months. If this is true in your state,then his school report card (which has your address on it),is proof enough. Where I live,you don't have to have proof that the child has lived with you for 12 months. All we need is the Social Security No.
2007-12-03 02:06:12 · answer #8 · answered by Squeakers 6 · 1⤊ 2⤋
You can claim him only if your husband files too. Why won't your husand file? If you are married then you can make him a dependant too.
2007-12-03 01:58:39 · answer #9 · answered by C D 4 · 0⤊ 4⤋