[BabyGirl4242005]

Okay, My husband and I got married November 19th, 2005.

In september 2007, we moved from New York State to Washington State. In Oct 2007, I took my (now 16 month old) daughter and came back to nys due to domestic violence case. Anyways, We are NOT divorced and we are NOT legally separated. He is in the US Military and rank of E5 which is a SGT.

I have SOLE LEGAL, PHYSICAL Custody of my daughter, a 2 year order of protection againest him. So our child lives with me and has been in my custody.

When we lived together, I DID NOT WORK. I was a stay at home mom. I only worked 3 months in NYS before we moved, she came with me and I made may $100 a week.

So I will have a w2 form coming in.


My husband is filing MFS. Married filing Separately on Jan 27th. I wanted to know if we have to split 50/50 what the tax returns come out to be.

Does he get to claim her even if she doesnt live with him and she lives with me and I have custody?

for the year 2007 yes we lived together Jan-M then he went to AZ for training and then lived together Aug- Mid oct. So can he claim her?

I didn't work so does it look like I am going to get screwed over and not get any return besides what I put in when I worked? cause thats going to come back as like $200. I think... I claimed $0.00.


I looked up WA state laws and it is one of 9 states that split Community income. Whats that? and does it pertain to me that we split money 50/50.

I am going to court this week. On the paper work, my husband will have to pay spousal support, child support and Child care. Does that have something to do with Taxes also?


HELLLLP?!?!?!?!

MELANIE

[badboy88888]

The only thing I can tell you is to bring it up in court and make sure the judge signs it in the order. I live in Washington State and the laws here are pretty weird. The main thing is you have to prove that you are the one that provided for your family for more then half the year. And to tell you the truth since you didn't make that much money it doesn't sound like you will get much back. What you should do is make a settlement with your husband and tell him he can claim your child so as long as you get 50% and have him sign something stating that. Make sure you get it notarized so it's legal, if he bails out on you he can get into a lot of trouble. Good luck and hope this helped if not just let me know I can see what I can do for you...

[AtlantaTaxExpert]

Melanie:

The fact that he is in the military works in your favor, because his company commander will make sure he keeps his end of the bargain.

If you both file MFS, you both get screwed, as you will NOT qualify to claim the child care credit or the Earned Income Credit. If you file jointly, you qualify for both of these credits, plus your combined incomes gets taxed at a much lower rate.

You need to call and negotiate a fair settlement as to how much of the refund YOU get and how much HE gets. Get his company commander involved in a conference call, as he/she can be the fair, impartial broker.

This is what I suggest:

- You send (via fax or email) a copy of your W-2 to the company commander (or to an officer designated by him/her).
- The company commander can get your husband's W-2 and have the tax return prepared by the local ACS.
- Once they determine how much the refund will be, you, your husband and the company commander can get on a conference call to determine how much of the refund each of you will get.
- Once agreed, you can designate YOUR part of the refund into YOUR checking account in New York and HE can designate HIS part of the refund into HIS checking account in Washington using Form 8888.
- He will then sign the tax return and mail it to you, then YOU sign it and mail it to the IRS.
- If you want to efile (makes for a faster refund), you can make arrangements for him to sign the efile release form, fax it to you, you sign the release, then you fax it to the ACS tax worker who will then efile the return from Washington.

[4potawatomi]

My husband and I are still married but we have been separated for two years now not leagally separated if I wanted to file my own taxes for the year 2007 would I need a leagal doucument saying that we are separated so I call file taxes on my own?

[AtlantaTaxExpert]

Legal separation DOES require some type of legal document (I think); you may want to post that question on the LAW forum to be sure.

However, you can file Married Filing Separately without being legally separated. It just happens to be not the best way to file; Head of Household or Single are better.

[MukatA]

4potawatomi can file as Head of Household, and get all the benefits including Earned Income Credit (refundable), Child Tax Credit (nonrefundable) or Additional Child tax credit (refundable).

To qualify for head of household status, you must be either unmarried or considered unmarried on the last day of the year. You are considered unmarried on the last day of the tax year if you meet all the following tests.
*You file a separate return,
*You paid more than half the cost of keeping up your home for the tax year.
*Your spouse did not live in your home during the last 6 months of the tax year. Your spouse is considered to live in your home even if he or she is temporarily absent due to special circumstances.
*Your home was the main home of your child, stepchild, or eligible foster child for more than half the year.
*You must be able to claim an exemption for the child.

[AtlantaTaxExpert]

MukatA once again has done a better job of covering the issue.

There IS a legal document requirement to be legally separated, but, as noted, that is NOT REQUIRED in order to file Head of Household.

Thanks for the backup!