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Joined: May 2003
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While my D is in progress the court has ordered him to pay me temporary child support,they take it right out of his pay.My question is this if anyone knows................I was reading the court paper work and it says that he gets to use our child as a tax deduction for the the yr of 2005 and also 2006!!! I was shocked. Is this normal?? I thought that because I had sole custody that I got to take her as the deduction,was I wrong?? Did I just get screwed again??
If anyone has dealt with this please let me know what to expect.
Thanks so much.
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It realy depends on your income. In some cases, the deduction will make no difference for you. My X does not get to claim any of our kids unless she makes a minimum of 25k for the year


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Thanks for the respond,I dont understand why??
He does make more than me and especially now because I am going back to school so that I can get a better paying job and the tax deduction would help me so much right now.

I guess this is something I am going to have to investigate.


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i had it put in our paperwork and divorce decree that we alternated years.


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Gingersnap,

If the child lives with you all the time and dad has a limited visitation schedule, then you are considered to have more than 50% of the expenses (no matter what the child support division is...).

Federal law mandates that you have the deduction. It is yours regardless of what the decree says.

Now if both of you file for the deduction, you may be asked to provide documentation that you indeed have the expenses you claim. I really think that all you would have to do would be to produce school records and your decree to show that the child lives with you, but you MAY have to produce receipts for food and clothing, so don't throw anything out.

It became a federal law maybe two years ago. The government changed their ruling which said that whichever parent provided more than 50% of the support to whichever parent the child lived with for more than 50% of the time irrespective of support.

You may want to bargain with your stbx about the deduction for something that you want or need from him. I let my ex take the deduction because I feel sorry for him that he chose to not share custody (with no support obligation) and decided to move four hours away and has to now pay support out the wazoo.

Here is link to the pertinent irs file:

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1040.pdf

I'll edit with the page number, however my browser is frozen and I may lose this post...

Page 18!
V.

Last edited by sunnyva39; 08/22/05 09:42 AM.
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Tax exemption is something that is negotiable in the divorce. Technically, the custodial parent gets the election. However, I think it is fairly common for the spouse paying child support to put this in the decree. I even saw one agreement where the man got the election unless it made no difference on his return, then the woman got it back. For him to take the exemption, he has to attach Form 8332 - Release of exemption that you have signed to his tax return. Be careful. There are two ways to sign this form. You can sign to let him take the exemption for one particular year, or for all future years. You want to make him get this signed each year. This way you can refuse to sign if he does not pay child support. I suggest you work this out prior to filing your tax return. If you both take the exemption, you both will get an ugly letter from the IRS and that is just another hassle to deal with.


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Federal law mandates that you have the deduction. It is yours regardless of what the decree says.
This is not so. This is a “general” rule, if there are no other circumstances, such as something in the decree.

You should get a tax attorney for specifics.

Read Publication 504 (2004), Divorced or Separated Individuals

Here is the specific portion, titled “5 - Support Test”.

” Exception. The noncustodial parent will be treated as providing more than half of the child's support if:
1. The custodial parent signs a written declaration, discussed later, that he or she will not claim the exemption for the child, and the noncustodial parent attaches this written declaration to his or her return,
2. The custodial parent signed a decree or agreement executed after 1984 stating that he or she will not claim the exemption for the child and that the noncustodial parent can claim an exemption for the child without regard to any condition such as payment of support, and the noncustodial parent attaches to his or her return the documentation described later under Divorce decree or separation agreement made after 1984, or
3. A decree or agreement executed before 1985 provides that the noncustodial parent is entitled to the exemption, and he or she provides at least $600 for the child's support during the year, unless the pre-1985 decree or agreement is modified after 1984 to specify that this provision will not apply.”


Read Frequently Asked Tax Questions And Answers - Keyword: Child Support

“If you pay child support, are you allowed to deduct anything on your taxes or claim the child as an exemption?
Nothing can be deducted for the child support payments. Child support payments are neither deductible by the payer nor taxable income to the payee. You may be able to claim the child as a dependent. Generally, the custodial parent generally is treated as the parent who provided more than half of the child's support. This parent is usually allowed to claim the exemption for the child if the other exemption tests are met. However, the noncustodial parent may be treated as the parent who provided more than half of the child's support if the custodial parent signs a Form 8332 (PDF), Release of Claim to Exemption for Child of Divorced of Separated Parents, or a substantially similar statement.
Please refer to Publication 501, Exemptions, Standard Deduction and Filing Information, and Publication 504, Divorced or Separated Individuals, for more information.”

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That's not the way I read it at all. The deduction is the custodial parents, unless the decree says otherwise.

From the document you listed. If the custodial parent chooses to claim the child after the decree says otherwise, she is in violation to the terms of the divorce decree and may be held in contempt of court in that state.

The test for claiming the child is pretty simple. But it doesn't say that a non-custodial parent doesn't have the right to claim a child.

I personally think that the older view was better, provide more than 50% of the finanical support and you get the claim the child.

I'd be happy to give a little more child support if I got to claim my YD every year. Split the difference in my taxes with and without claiming her vs her taxes with and without. I'm taxed at a much higher bracket than she is, so I'd be willing to share the tax benefit by giving my daughter a bit more child support.

But I want to benefit too, ultimately, I'd like it to work out such that we give the least we can give to the federal gov and both share in that additional money.

But how do you convince your ex that you are not the enemy, the IRS is <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

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You've got a few different issues at work.

First, if you and your husband are divorced before 12/31/05 you will both be single taxpayers for the entire year.
An important consideration is that if you have a dependent child, you can instead claim "head of household" which puts you in a lower tax bracket than a single taxpayer. If you don't have a dependent child, you can't claim that status.

Not only do you get the exemption, but you also qualify for the child tax credit until the year the child turns 16.
Child care doens't apply to you since your kids are older, but should be a consideration for those with younger kids. You can't claim that if they aren't your dependent.

Depending on your income, you may qualify for the earned income credit which you can still claim if they aren't on your return as a dependent, provided your EX isn't filing for that credit also.

The IRS has specific rules about dependency. You need to provide more than 50% of their support (shelter, food, clothing, utilities, etc.) Also, their income cannot exceed a certain level. But since you have children in their late teens and twenties, you should be aware that if they live with you or away at school -- they could very well still be your dependents. Then that opens up a new world of tax credits for higher education.

It is very common for divorcing parents to negotiate claiming the exemption.

You should look carefully at what giving that up would mean to your tax picture. If you are going to school, and your income is not that high -- it might actually benefit the family more for your Ex to have the exemptions/credits.

Can I help? I'm a tax preparer...

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The 27 year old is irrelevant to any tax matters unless he is disabled and still a considered by the IRS as a dependent.
The 23 year old is irrelevant unless she is going to school full time or as above.

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Not true Chris. Anyone can be a dependent regardless of their age (but is subject to income limitations).

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Quote
Depending on your income, you may qualify for the earned income credit which you can still claim if they aren't on your return as a dependent, provided your EX isn't filing for that credit also.


The non-custodial parent does not qualify for the Earned Income Credit, as qualifying children must live in the household for the full year. The custodial parent can claim the Earned Income Credit, regardless of whether or not the qualifying child is claimed as an exemption, if the custodial parent's income falls within the income range for EIC. There are exceptions, though. Ex: Mom and qualifying children live with Grandma, who also has a qualifying child. Grandma is actually the head of household, and earns more money than Mom, while still within the income limitations for EIC. Grandma is the one entitled to claim the EIC.

If the custodial parent's income is low enough, it may not make any difference whether or not she claims the children as exemptions. If she can file as Head of Household, she gets a break there on the standard deduction (if itemized deductions aren't more than the standard deduction). If she pays for child care, she can claim the Child Care Expenses. If her income is within the EIC limitations, she can claim the EIC.

My exDiL went to H&R Block a couple of times, but they kept telling her that she couldn't claim EIC, as our son claimed the children as dependents. She got so bent out of shape because "it wasn't fair that son got to claim the kids" <img src="/ubbt/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif" alt="" /> that I finally told her that I would do her taxes for her. Her taxes were always $0, because she only earned a few thousand per year, but she was entitled to the EIC.

Do a sample tax return to estimate your tax liability and see if claiming the kids as dependents would help you taxwise. If you have more than one child, perhaps you and your H could agree to split the exemptions.


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