Who stands to gain the most claiming a child? Someone making $12-15K per year with no other deductions or someone with a mortgage paying $4,500 in interest and taxes filing jointly, making $90K.

Think about negotiating.

We need a LOT more information (age of the child, full-time student) to offer proper guidance.

We need a LOT more information (age of the child, full-time student) to offer proper guidance.

The child is 13 goes to school in my district. We have joint custody and are supposed to alternate year to year. We also have a daughter who is 19, going to college. I provide pretty much everything (cars, insurance, expense money, etc.) But every year the ex suggest that she claim the 13 year old so she can get money to provide something. I'm just curious as to how it pans out, since she can get earned income tax credit.

The key is the Earned Income Credit, which, for a child under 17, can result is a LARGE refund, MUCH more than what was withheld.

The only way to know for sure is to model the returns BOTH ways, which can be done by any competent tax professional or by your and your ex-spouse using on-line or off-the-shelf tax software.

Who has the right to claim her this year? Maybe following the court order and alternating will save the argument and stay out of trouble in court.

After you do the model, what is your intention, split the difference?
Have you continued to allow her to file despite your court order?

JustWantFair:

Though the divorce decree IS a legal document with the force of law, if both spouses agree to alter the arrangement and submit the necessary paperwork to satisfy the IRS, there is no problem legally for them doing so.

I normally broker such issues between divorced couples at least once a year, and it is all legal and above board.

I wasn't saying it wasn't legal if both parties agreed. Although if it's in a court order without appropriate approval given by the appropriate party it can always become an issue.

It would save the debate every year of who would claim, my apologies for including that thought. As the OP seems to continually fall in favor of the mother filing despite his ability to be allowed to file on alternate years.

The fact that it CAN be an issue is why the IRS requires that the person who is granted the dependency exemption to relinguish their right to that exemption IN WRITING.

The IRS is apparently trying to avoid having to be the arbiter of conflicts between custodial and non-custodial parents -- starting with divorce decrees issued in 2009, the IRS requires that even if the non-custodial parent has a court order that specifies s/he is entitled to take the exemption, the custodial parent must still sign a waiver each year (form 8332 or equivalent), which the non-custodial parent must then attach to his/her return. I can imagine that this is going to cause a lot of headaches - the last thing a divorced person needs is to have to get the approval of his/her ex to follow what the court has decreed!

As late as the 1990s, the IRS routinely ignored divorce decrees about who got the dependency exemption and awarded them to the custodial parent.

Once the federal court system upheld the resulting fines from the divorce courts against the IRS, they changed their tune and started to, wonder of wonders, obey the law!

Now, understandably, the IRS is in CYA mode, requiring the Form 8332 in all cases.