me n my wife had gotten married on dec. 18 2006 and her mother claimed her yet so did i i thought she could not claim her b/c she is my wife what do i do?

If you are positive that your mother-in-law has already filed her tax return, and since it is far from being the deadline of April 15, your mother-in-law needs to file an amended return and there shouldn't be a problem.

The other option is that you yourself file a married but separate return so that your mother-in-law can have the benefit of claiming your wife for the year. There is no law that keeps her from claiming your wife as a dependent. The only crime that comes into play is if you BOTH claim her as a dependent.

Hope this helped clear things up.

Your mother in law can not legally claim her, but heck people just make up kids and try to claim them. So your mother in law filed a incorrect tax return, you merely file yours correctly, and tell her she had better correct hers.

The rule is that you have to have paid 50% support for someone to claim them as a dependent. Sounds like Your mom-in-law is more likely to fulfill that requirement.

Scott & Fr Chuck - FYI: Juanito sent me a private message after I posted. It seemed to suggest that his wife was living with him throughout all of 2006. So, I told him if that was the scenario, he had every right to claim her, since they were married in 2006 and that if his mother-in-law doesn't amend her return, she is the one liable if the gov't picks up on it, not him.

Thanks for passing that along, Ruby. An example of why questions should be public.

ALCON:

If you are married, it is unlikely your parents can legally claim you, even if they provided over 50% of your support. That's the law.