Can my sons dad claim him on his taxes?

by **fogartaigh71** » Mon Nov 26, 2012 5:40 am

have two children and one on the way. My 2y/o daughter is not his but my son 10months is the baby on the way is my husbands. I was just married in June. My sons father and I were never in a relationship. We never lived together either. He has visitations on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10 am- 6pm but he never does anything for my son for example he wont change his diaper the whole time their out, he smokes around my son, and my son needs a crib, but he always gives me a hard time. I am a college student right now and I receive public assistance but I am unable to get a job right now due to my busy schedule. My sons father has a job and has to pay child support due to the fact that I receive public assistance. I have not received anything from child support yet and I was told he is not keeping up with the payments. In the first 3 1/2 months after my son was born he denied him then all of a sudden in February 2012 he wanted his ss card and birth certificate and claimed it was to get him life insurance. It didn't sound right to me b/c he was denying his son for a while and all of a sudden he wanted this info? My question is being that I am my sons legal guardian, and despite the fact that the father has visitations two days a week, is he allowed to claim my son on his taxes next January? ps I filed last year in January I claimed my son and daughter which helped me get a few of the things that they both needed that his father refused to buy. Stroller, clothing, a car seat, ect. Ever since this situation in February happened he's been being a complete jerk.

by **holdin27** » Mon Nov 26, 2012 5:43 am

Not legally when he and the child does not meet all of the rules that each one does have to meet to be able claim a taxpayer as a QC qualifying child dependent on his 1040 income tax return during the 2013 tax filing season for this purpose.
Only one taxpayer may claim a dependency exemption for a child in a tax year. Generally, the child is the qualifying child of the custodial parent.

However, the child may be treated as the qualifying child or qualifying relative of the noncustodial parent if certain conditions are met:

The custodial parent signs a Form 8332 (PDF), Release/Revocation of Release of Claim to Exemption for Child by Custodial Parent or a substantially similar statement and the noncustodial parent attaches it to his or her return.
Note that if the custodial parent releases a claim to exemption for a child, the custodial parent may not claim the Child Tax Credit for that child.

Refer to Publication 501, Exemptions, Standard Deduction, and Filing Information or Publication 504, Divorced or Separated Individuals, for more information on the special rule for children of divorced or separated parents.
Additional Information:

Use the search box at the www.irs.gov website for Publication 504, Divorced or Separated Individuals

http://www.irs.gov/publications/p504/index.html

http://www.irs.gov/publications/p504/ar02.html#en_US_2011_publink1000175907

Hope that you find the above enclosed information useful. 10/08/2012

by **dontay** » Mon Nov 26, 2012 10:07 am

You would be entitled to claim your son if you were required to file a tax return which, it appears, you aren't. The sensible thing to do is give the father a signed IRS Form 8332 allowing him to take the exemption and get some benefit from it since you would get none.

by **harlak** » Mon Nov 26, 2012 10:24 am

No his dad can't claim him. If he does and you claim him also, the IRS will check who the child lives with, and his claim will be denied. If he files before you do and claims him, you'll have to mail in your return since an efile will be rejected.

by **nef** » Mon Nov 26, 2012 11:50 am

He has to be the primary provider for the child to claim him as a dependent.

As a side note, if you can prove he has failed to pay child support (the burden of proof is on him) they'll deduct the back child support from his tax return.

by **baynebridge53** » Mon Nov 26, 2012 11:55 am

This is my story my daughter's father and I split we were never married but he always claimed her in his taxes, after we split up he started being a jerk and didn't want to give me not even $10 lousy dollars so I had to get public assistance (cash aide, foodstamps, medical) and also when you receive medical and cash assistance you automatically have to cooperate with child support if the father is not living in the home (I'm in the state of California btw) so childsupport was unable to locate him for a while but when they did his drivers licence was suspended for not making payments, anyway here comes the good part he went and did his taxes and claimed my our daughter which he was not supporting and he did not get one dime out of the $3,200 that was all taken by childsupport to repay the cash assistance I have received for our daughter. Depending on the state you live in he may or may not be able to claim your son.

by **kaelin** » Mon Nov 26, 2012 12:05 pm

without court order he has no right to claim. the person who gets to claim is the one who has had the child for 7 months or more of the filing year. him seeing the child for 2 days a week doesn't give him a right to file.

by **mathews24** » Mon Nov 26, 2012 12:14 pm

the rule is the parent with whom the child(ren) spend the majority 'nites' with claims the child
the parent paying child support is not entitled to claim the child
the parent eligible to claim the child can sign a #8332 waiver to allow the other parent to claim the child
since you are currently married with child of this spouse, you file married jointly and claim all children of the household that live there 6 months and you provide more than 50% support

by **fayne** » Mon Nov 26, 2012 12:17 pm

If you try to claim him on paper, and the only reason you give for why you should be allowed to claim him and his father should not is that he spends more than 1/2 his time with you and less than 1/2 his time with his father, and you do not mention child support, then you can claim him as his father cannot.

If you mention the child support situation, in any way, as the reason why you should be allowed to claim him and his father should not, then his father can claim him, and you cannot.

If you only try to claim on an electronically filed return, then you have about a 50-50 shot of being successful. If you fail, then you can still claim him by failing your claim on paper, and not electronically. If you refuse to file on paper, and insist only file electronically, then his father can claim him, and you cannot.

by **gildea** » Mon Nov 26, 2012 12:26 pm

If you try to claim him on paper, and the only reason you give for why you should be allowed to claim him and his father should not is that he spends more than 1/2 his time with you and less than 1/2 his time with his father, and you do not mention child support, then you can claim him as his father cannot.

If you mention the child support situation, in any way, as the reason why you should be allowed to claim him and his father should not, then his father can claim him, and you cannot.

If you only try to claim on an electronically filed return, then you have about a 50-50 shot of being successful. If you fail, then you can still claim him by failing your claim on paper, and not electronically. If you refuse to file on paper, and insist only file electronically, then his father can claim him, and you cannot.

No, he can't.

Don't take this the wrong way.... but you are a college student on public assistance and you have three kids by three guys. Maybe take a health class and work on using birth control. Just so the rest of us don't have to pay for you.

"I have not received anything from child support " - That's because it goes straight to paying for the pubic assistance you receive. You are getting all the money, and then some.

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