Judge SAID BM claims kids, but not in CO.
CurlyQ284
member
October 2007, FI went to court to alter the visitation and CS amount. The judge said in court that BM claims both kids. Up until that point, they each claimed one of the kids. We ended up with an IRS loan/installment plan because for 10 months in 2007 he included an allowance on his W4 for SD so obviously not enough taxes were taken out.
I have since found the BF board and I searched ALL court docs for 2 hours last night. I read all of them twice. No where on there does it say who claims the kids on taxes. I told FI and he said the judge verbally mentioned it in court and said that because the kids live with her, she claims them, because that's a criteria for "dependent" on your taxes.
FI is calling them today, sometimes he'll get a sympathetic person who will actually talk to him, sometimes he gets a snarky lady and they say he needs to send a letter and they will respond via mail which takes FOREVER. What do you ladies think? If what the judge says is right, then I would think some people wouldn't be able to alternate years or use the other arrangements some of you have. I HOPE this works out and we can pay the loan finally! The interest is INSANE.
Re: Judge SAID BM claims kids, but not in CO.
Did the BM claim both children in 2007? Becuase that's what you need to know. If she did, then you can't - obviously, two filing can't claim the same child. So even if you get a CO that says otherwise, the IRS isn't going to undue her refund and give it to you.
You can sue her for it, saying that she went against a court order and it caused you a finaical burden. But you're saying the judge said that she did had the right to file on both. So if she did - then she didn't do anything wrong. And you don't have any CO stating anything else.
If she didn't claim both children, just one as usual, you can re-file claiming the dependent.
It really depends on BM's tax return. And what happened in real life. The IRS doesn't care about the court documents and what they may or may not have stated.
And if you can scrape together a lump sum, you may be able to negotiate a deal with the IRS. Something like, "If I pay $2K right now, can you forgive the rest?" Sometimes they say yes. They are usually more flexible if you've been making payments, are in good standing, and the final deal puts you at or above what you orginally owed (without all of the late pentalities).
DH's order also does not mention taxes. So BM gets to claim her every year since she is the custodial parent.
Oh and we got a state tax bill for a business DH thought he dissolved in 2006. Anyway we owe taxes for 2006 and 2007 plus interest and penalties (yes you pay $400 a year for a business that literally did nothing). We called last week and they eliminated the penalties and interest, so we're paying just the $800., not double.
If the CO doesn't say anything then it is based on who the child lives with at least 50% of the time. If you have joint custody and have the child 50% of the time like a 50/50 split then your FI could claim the child if he pays more than 75% of the money it takes to support the child for the year. If BM has the child for more than 50% of the time than she gets to claim the child.
She can agree to let you claim one of them, but she would need to fill out a form saying she is not going to claim the child. If the previous arrangement wasn't in a CO then it was being done incorrectly, but the IRS doesn't care as long as two people didn't claim the same child. If she agrees to let you claim one child then it is in your best interest to get the paperwork filled out so that she doesn't later claim both children and leave you getting audited and owing lots of money.
What sucks is that even if it is written in the CO that the noncustodial parent gets to claim a child, if the custodial parent won't sign off and claims the child there is nothing that can be done.
This happens with DH every other year. CO says he gets to claim the kids in odd years, BM in even years. She refuses to sign off so ends up claiming them every year.
IRS says that it doesn't care what the CO says since it is a state court document, not a federal one.
So his only option is to take her to small claims court. Since she would go absolutely apeshiite, he figured that it just isn't worth the hassle.
Makes me so mad for DH.