I've been split (unmarried) from my daughter's father since her birth years ago. Every tax season I have claimed her as my dependent, while claiming head of household, child care credits, and earned income credit. Since before her birth I have maintained my own residence, and have maintained her medicaid coverage (which is based on my household income.) Although she qualifies for medicaid, I make enough money to maintain a home/bills without any other governmental assistance for her or myself. I have also been primarily responsible for her enrollment in preschool. We have a joint visitation & legal. In THEORY (on paper) she spends 50/50 time with us both.
Her father lives with his parents, and is almost never there when I drop her off. Up until recently he has not been involved in her education, or her medical appointments. Her physicals, insurance, and preschool documentation has all been addressed to her at my residence for years.
This year he is claiming her on taxes, eitc, credits etc. Despite all of the above. I'm worried I will face a audit because I plan on claiming her also! (As I already have for YEARS.) If so what do I need to be prepared for? I'm scared to death. I have a lot of documentation, receipts; but I'm still worried. My refund goes towards her needs, and helps me get caught up on debt I gain during the year maintaining her needs, and expenses, and a home for her and myself!
You need to spend the money and talk to good legal and tax counsel.
If ex has never ever claimed her, I would think IRS would red flag him ... Because , why start now?
Still you need to have all documentation readily available for the experts to review and to have on hand just in case you get an audit.
Document everything.
So visitation is spelled out at 50/50. What does it say about her living expenses like child care, clothing, food, housing, etc? Is all that spelled out too? Because there should be no discussion about who takes her on taxes since that should all be spelled out in the court papers. If it isn't then consider this a learning experience (because the irs will kick out your submission claiming that someone else has already claimed her as a dependent) and you might have to pay additional money plus a penalty. They don't get in the middle of this kind of stuff so the first to file is the first to claim.
Welcome to mamapedia!
You need to talk to a tax professional. TODAY.
You will need your custody arrangement paperwork and past years tax forms...
Good luck!
In 50/50 the dependent claim should change every year, you claim one year, him the next but it doesn't sound like you have any documentation. This is usually spelled out in a parenting plan. I claimed my oldest and my youngest, he claimed the middle two. The IRS doesn't get in the middle of custody disputes. More than likely they will give the claim to the first person that files and let y'all duke it out in court.
You need to understand receipts will not help. What you are talking about is a family court situation, not the IRS. You have equal custody, not that this is your situation but the IRS doesn't give the claim to the parent that spoils the child more, in other words spends more money.
You also may want to consider the can of worms you are opening. Medicaid is based on both parents ability to pay, not just yours, you are lucky they have not been looking closer at your child. I don't know that the government is capable of connecting the dots but you need to know that it is a risk.
In other words, talk to her father and work out something. He does have a right to claim her as well.
Just an FYI, I have a masters in accounting which means I could practice tax on a professional level, Gamma does not. You may want to consider this when assessing risk factors on how to proceed.
As others have said, you need to seek the advice of a tax pro (preferably a CPA well versed in family issues) to find out how best to protect yourself in the future. Does your daughter's father pay any child support for his daughter? Look carefully at your visitation agreement. With the 50/50 split he is probably entitled to claim her half of the time, even if you supply more than 1/2 of her care because you did not get that specified in the agreement. The IRS isn't going to care that you need the money for her expenses, they will only look at the face of visitation/custody documents. Good luck! Perhaps someone else will learn from you sharing your experience and you will get things straightened out for filing in future years.
It should be in your custody agreement who gets to claim her when. You can not both claim her, only one or the other, and it is usually the parent who has primary custody. Other family, those that do 50/50, sometimes alternate years. You need to figure out what your papers say, and if they don't say anything then get it added in.
Per IRS laws - in order to claim the child tax credit, you must be the primary caregiver and financial provider for more than six months.
Go ahead and file. Do it ASAP. If you're audited, it is no big deal so long as you can prove your claims. If he files first and gets the refund, but is later found to be fraudulent, he will have to pay back the IRS.
As long as you're legit, you have nothing to fear from the IRS.
Sometimes the court orders parents to switch years, however, unless it is actually 50/50 physical and legal custody, the IRS does not recognize the legitimacy of such orders. If you do have a court order, honor it for the sake of personal ethics. If you do not, then your ex is SOL.
I'm assuming you'll be efiling. Whoever claims her first will get the credit, that's all there is to it. The IRS efiling system will not accept the same social security number on 2 different returns. So if you know you spent more than half on her, I would do my best to file before him. Otherwise you'll have to paper file and contest it with the IRS.
He will get in trouble not you. Report him to the IRS if you want to protect yourself even more. Don't let him do this to you.
Since this isn't spelled out in your court documents, whoever files first gets to claim. Typically in courts each parent alternates years. He will NOT get in trouble if he claims her FIRST, since this isn't spelled out in the decree.
IIF she is supported more than 50% by you, you would get the right to claim her. So - it will depend also on where the child really is most of the time if this was not addressed in any court papers.
I agree with Julie S. Please talk with a professional tax person. A person who prepares taxes before you do anything. They can answer your question without preparing you taxes. You can also call IRS. They have a department that just answers questions. It's safe to ask them.
don't be scared!
audits can be intimidating and annoying, but they're not the spanish inquisition. if you've been paying and keeping your records reasonably well, you'll be fine.
sorry your ex is being a jerk. if they audit, he'll lose out. don't let him rock your world by panicking about it. the IRS used to be pretty monstrous (they put us on the rack when we were young and starting out) but they're much more user-friendly these days.
khairete
S.
It would probably be wise to talk to HR right now about how much is taken out of you paycheck for taxes. If you can estimate how much you actually pay in taxes each year and have them take out just that much and no more, then you wouldn't be dependent on a refund to pay off debt plus interest. You would know to spend only what you get paid.
So'ething to think about.
Try to file before him if you can, and document how many days she spends in your house vs his. If she slept at your house 183 times last year, you should be fine. If she actually slept at his house more than half of the year, then he can claim her. From the IRS website:
- If the parents do not file a joint return together but both parents claim the child as a qualifying child, the IRS will treat the child as the qualifying child of the parent with whom the child lived for the longer period of time during the year. If the child lived with each parent for the same amount of time, the IRS will treat the child as the qualifying child of the parent who had the higher adjusted gross income (AGI) for the year.
http://www.irs.gov/publications/p17/ch03.html#en_US_2014_...#
If she spent more nights at his house than yours, then find out why he's pulling this douche move and figure out what you can work out with him. If you have her more nights, then his claim will be disallowed anyway, so you go ahead and file, let him file, and then work it out with the IRS after. Try to file before him though so that you get your refund first. If you file after him, things will be delayed until they sort out the conflict.
You need an accountant ASAP.
You didn't clarify why is he claiming her this year on his taxes? Has an every other year policy been required by the courts that set the visitation policy?
You won't be audited.
If there is not an agreement through the courts, whomever files for the refund first will get it. If he does it first and your return is rejected, then you will need to send the IRS proof the child was in your custody. I had to do this with my kids are one point. You will need a copy of their most recent report card with the address of record for where the child lives. It should match the address on the return or further information should be provided to show you moved. Your lease agreement would also show whom lives in the house with you. Many leases include the children by name and age. A copy of this could also be provided as proof.
After the IRS has reviewed the evidence presented you will get your refund but understand it will take a very long time because their priority is to process all of the current year tax returns before they begin to deal with your problem for the current year.
To summarize:
1. Is there a court ordered agreement permitting him to claim the child?
2. If there is you can file head of household but you can't claim her as a depend on your tax return.
3. If there is no court ordered agreeement permitting him to claim the child, then you should file your taxes as soon as possilbe.
4. If the IRS rejects your return because he filed before you, and there is no court agreement about claiming the child then you will need to provide the IRS with copies of official documentation they will outline to you of her living with you and prepare to wait a long time to receive your refund due.
I'm an accountant by profession. I hope this helps but you won't get audited for prior years. This is a fairly common occurence in taxes.
