Blended Families
Erin0922
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Another Tax Question...
Erin0922
member
Shorty made me think of it.
If it doesn't state in CO who gets to claim child, is it assumed the custodial parent does, or the parent providing child support?
I would assume the parent paying c/s... since they (at least in our situation) pay all the bills of said child.
WDYT?
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Re: Another Tax Question...
The custodial parent gets the tax benefit if it isn't spelled out. If the non custodial parent claims a kid for tax purposes, there is a form the custodial parent signs.
I don't know if they ever check it since I see posts about people claiming when they shouldn't have , but from what I was able to find when we started claiming youngest SD this is how it is supposed to work (I think).
I just looked it up. It doesn't really seem fair - we pay all his expenses all year, and most of hers... and we hardly get to see him. I always thought that the whole point of the tax credit was to be like a .... "boost" for preparing to support kids in the upcoming year.
Oh well. Guess I can chalk that up as one more thing BM will spend on herself!
Does mom work? If not, you should be able to get a CO saying DH can claim...
She is technically employed, but works 1-2 days a week. Without c/s she would not even be able to afford housing. Its insane.
I'm just going to echo that it's the CP unless otherwise stated. In our CO, we switch off years, and I think that's the most fair.. at least in our situation!
Ick, thats what I was afraid of. I don't mind not getting the money, I just mind that I KNOW it won't go to SS. Whereas if we got it, we would use it for his plane tickets to see us, etc.
IDK if they check it or not, but there's a tax form the CP can fill out if the other parent claims falsely. I remember my mom had to do that once when my sister's dad claimed her and wasn't the CP. I do believe he also had to pay back to the IRS what he got from the false claim.
Thats a good cause for it. We just flew down my step daughters and it cost us upwards of $2000 because he had to fly up to get them then down, then back up to drop them off and back home. Ridiculous. Sometimes I wish that she would help out getting them here because she wants them to see him too.
According to our accountant, the parent who has the child over 50% of the time, gets to claim them.
However...the other parent can claim them if they file before you. Then you have to go thru all the horrid paperwork to modify. It's not an easy quick process, but if they claimed them, and it's in your CO that you claim them, you can eventually get your taxes modified if they falsely file.
My accountant says, that the IRS really does not care who claims them... they don't really audit that unless their is a chronic issue - and now - with electronic filing, once a child is claimed, another can not claim them. The electronic filing will instantly bomb out and say that the child is already claimed. It's impossible for two people to claim now. Who ever files first - gets the deduction.
DH and I always let SD's mom claim SD. Even when we had full custody. DH did it out of the kindness of his own heart. Last year tho, we agreed that we were going to claim her, but SD filed before us and that's how we learned how all of this works.
This was the understanding DH had - whomever filed first "won." I just really don't want to end up getting screwed and owing the IRS back. So, I guess we'll hire someone to do our taxes, and we'll try talking to BM, and see what happens...
I think talking to her and coming up with a fair agreement - every other year for example - is the best way. That way both of you are on the same page. Get her to sign an agreement if you don't completely trust her, and don't want to go thru the whole change in CO ordeal.
From previous posts my understanding was that the parent who has the child 51% of the time claims unless the CO states otherwise.
I would not just file, talking to BM is the way to go.