[angel0772001]

I have my daughter 95 percent of the time and I'm supposed to receive child support from her dad but most of the time I don't receive it. He told me today he was going to claim my daughter on his taxes and there was nothing I could do about that. Can't he get in trouble for claiming her if I was going to claim her?

I also have another question, I was told that if you apply for school in 2009 for spring of 2010 you can get a tax break too. Is that true?

[eyecue]

Yeah he is going to lie if he is going to claim her on his taxes. The test for claiming dependants on taxes is "how much time" the dependent spends with a spouse. When the court orders custody one parent usually wins this contest on the taxes. If the time spent is 50-50 then the spouse usually works it out so one claims it one year and the other claims it the next year. Since a social security number is involved in tax filing someone is likely to be in trouble for this and will have to prove how much time the child spends with them.




*** my agree was suppose to be disagree ( Fr Chuck)

[angel0772001]

Well I live low income so she is on everything I get assistance on. I pay her daycare everything. Its obvious who she lives with and the child support is through the state and they know he isn't paying. Either way I get his taxes but that's not the point. The point is that he is claiming something that he shouldn't be

[ScottGem]

If he files first and you use electronic filing, your return will be rejected and vice versa. If you file a paper return the IRS will look at each return and investigate.

The standard is who provides 51% of the child's support NOT the time spent with the child. However the custodial parent is generally the one allowed to claim the child unless the support or custodial agreement specifies otherwise.

If the father thinks he can get away with this he's in for a rude awakening. You claim your child and don't worry about it.

As for education, you can only claim expenses in the year they were paid.

[angel0772001]

Thank you that's what I thought about with the whole school thing

[Fr_Chuck]

First sorry scott I meant that to be "disagree" not agree with the poster,

They may investigate and he would have to pay back any refund he gets illegally.

Merely tell him if he wants to commit fraud, go ahead, and that he will just have to pay it back.

That is of course unless the custody order allows him to claim on specific years, it is common to have the order allowing every other year to claim the child

[angel0772001]

We don't have any custody agreements its just between me and him and up until now its worked great but I guess its time to involve a lawyer. But I have bank statements from paying daycare and buying her all the things she needs.

[Fr_Chuck]

You need a custody order in place, along with a child support order.
The " just between us" seldom works for long.

[ScottGem]

Your child support order establishes you as the custodial parent. Without anything to specify that he is allowed to claim his child he can't.

[angel0772001]

I have a child support order but he obviously don't care about that. Eventually the state will take his licence

[eyecue]

Scott and frchuck, This is straight from the IRS:
The custodial parent is the parent with whom the child lived for the greater number of nights during the year. The other parent is the noncustodial parent.

If the parents divorced or separated during the year and the child lived with both parents before the separation, the custodial parent is the one with whom the child lived for the greater number of nights during the rest of the year.

A child is treated as living with a parent for a night if the child sleeps:
At that parent's home, whether the parent is present, or

In the company of the parent, when the child does not sleep at a parent's home (for example, the parent and child are on vacation together).


Equal number of nights. If the child lived with each parent for an equal number of nights during the year, the custodial parent is the parent with the higher adjusted gross income.

[ScottGem]

This is straight from the IRS:
The custodial parent is the parent with whom the child lived for the greater number of nights during the year. The other parent is the noncustodial parent.

Yes, that is the correct definition of the custodial parent. And yes, generally the custodial parent can claim the child. But that is not the deciding factor. The deciding factor is who provides more than half the support.

We pride ourselves on the accuracy of the advice given out here. Just being able to look up code doesn't mean you can understand and interpret it.

[angel0772001]

Well financially I would be providing most of the support for her anyway. I hardly ever received support from him. Except if it were taken from his income taxes

[Fr_Chuck]

Actually while residence is part of the rule, there are a lot of exceptions to the rule of residence,

But the main rule is support,

Review IRS rule

A “Qualifying Child”

FS-2005-7, January 2005

[ScottGem]

well financially i would be providing most of the support for her anyways. i hardly ever recieved support from him. except if it were taken from his income taxes

Yes clearly, you are entitled to claim her under any test. The other issue is the accuracy of the advice given.

[Fr_Chuck]

And child support is not consdered support of the child under IRS, so the money they pay on child support is not what the IRS looks at,