Which spouse should claim children

Related Resources Who is eligible for a stimulus check? Truck Driver Tax Deductions Are you eligible for tax deductions if you're a truck driver? Including Sales Tax For Deduction Can you include the sales tax in the price of an item your claiming for a deduction? No matter how you file, Block has your back.

File with a tax pro File online. In that case, of course, your daughter could not claim them. If your daughter's AGI is greater than yours, then she can claim the grandchildren but you cannot. Our year-old son is back home after completing his college degree. He has a pretty good job, so he makes too much for us to claim him as a dependent.

Is that really possible? The answer is maybe—depending on your income and your son's. In order for your son to claim his sister as a dependent, his adjusted gross income AGI must be higher than any parent who could also claim her as a dependent, regardless of whether you choose to claim her or not.

This is called a "tiebreaker" rule, which helps determine who, if anyone, can claim a dependent. Remember, only one person can claim the dependent in any given tax year. In addition, your year-old daughter would also have to meet the all of the other qualifications for being her brother's dependent living with her brother more than half the year, not providing more than half of her own support, etc.

For the full list of qualifications, see Rules for Claiming a Dependent. My divorce was final last year, and the three kids live with me. Is that true?

Not likely. The general rule for qualifying children demands that the child live with you more than half the year and therefore children of divorced parents are usually dependents of the custodial parent. There are exceptions. The custodial parent can release the dependency claim or perhaps be forced to do so by the court to his or her ex-spouse by signing a written declaration Form that the noncustodial spouse must attach to the tax return each year he or she claims the children as dependents.

Otherwise, you get to claim the children as your dependents. If your ex-spouse claims them, too, the IRS will step in and likely deny his claim. Our year-old son has fallen on hard times. Because he lost his job, my spouse and I are basically supporting him, paying rent on his apartment and sending him money for food. Can we claim him as a dependent? My year-old mother moved in with me when she could no longer live alone. Yes, assuming you provide more than half of her support, she can pass the test as a qualifying relative.

When figuring that portion of her support you provide, include a value for the housing you provide. My daughter won a full-ride scholarship to an expensive college. First, scholarships are specifically excluded when figuring support. And remember, the test for a qualifying child is no longer that you provide more than half the support, but that she does not provide more than half of her own support.

My wife and I separated at the end of September. Our year-old son lived with me in October and with his mother the rest of the year. Who gets to claim our son as a dependent?

The payer of child support may be able to claim the child as a dependent: If the child lived with the payer for the greater part of the year, then the payer is the custodial parent for federal income tax purposes.

The custodial parent is generally the parent entitled to claim the child as a dependent under the rules for a qualifying child if the other tests for claiming the child are met. If the payer is the noncustodial parent, then the payer may only claim the child as a dependent if the special rule for a child of divorced or separated parents or parents who live apart applies.

The noncustodial parent must, then, attach a copy of that release to his or her return in order to claim the child as a dependent. Can a state court determine who may claim a child as a dependent on a federal income tax return? Answer: Federal tax law is what determines who may claim a child as a dependent on a federal income tax return. My daughter was born on December May I claim her as a dependent and also claim the child tax credit?

Answer: Yes, if your child was born alive during the year and the tests for claiming your child as a dependent are met, you may claim her as a dependent. What Is My Filing Status? My daughter was born at the end of the year. Answer: If you file your return claiming your daughter as a dependent and don't provide her social security number SSN on your return, the IRS will not allow you to claim her as a dependent.

You have two options: You may file your income tax return without claiming your daughter as a dependent. Individual Income Tax Return and claim your daughter as a dependent. Generally, you have three years after the date you filed your original return or two years after the date you paid the tax, whichever is later, to amend your return.

Individual Income Tax Return. This option would give you an additional six months to file your return; by then you should have your daughter's SSN. However, any tax owed is due at the filing due date without the extension.

Should I File an Amended Return? My child was stillborn. May I claim my child as a dependent on my tax return? Answer: In order to claim a newborn child as a dependent, state or local law must treat the child as having been born alive, and there must be proof of a live birth shown by an official document like a birth certificate.

Back to Frequently Asked Questions. On December 9, , the federal government presented legislative proposals that would provide an additional amount for the basic personal amount BPA , and the spousal and eligible dependant amounts for and subsequent taxation years.

See the article on the BPA for the new amounts for each year. The and subsequent years spousal amount calculation will depend on the taxpayer's basic personal amount as well as the eligible dependant's net income. Yukon tabled legislation to mirror the federal amounts. The equivalent to spouse tax credit can be claimed by only one person.

For and later years, it is equal to:. Note that the credit cannot be claimed if someone else in your household is claiming this tax credit. Each household is allowed only one claim for this amount. This is from s. There is a Tax Court Case in support of the above, Cheung v. The Queen, TCC Two brothers the appellants lived together in a single family home with their spouses, children, parents and sister.

Each of the brothers and their sister claimed a credit for their own children.