Ok so I had no idea the laws and taxes changed in 2019 so I unknowing to the changes claimed my grandson who is not my blood grandson but I am with his grandpa we are not married but been together for

[stacyr36]

But now they are saying I owe them 1,617.97 . I have argued this i do not have that kind of money they say I owe them because I am not allowed to claim him because we are not blood related I did not k

[xmasbaby0]

"I am with his grandpa we are not married ....."

Sorry, but since you are not related to the child you cannot claim the child for any child-related credits like earned income credit or child tax credit or childcare credit.  If the child lived with you the WHOLE tax year and meets the other criteria for the $500 credit for other dependents that is the only thing you can claim for a child who lived with you but was not related to you by blood or marriage.

You may need to set up a payment plan to pay back a refund you received due to filing incorrectly.

https://www.irs.gov/payments/online-payment-agreement-application

IRS interview to help determine who can be claimed:

https://www.irs.gov/help/ita/who-can-i-claim-as-a-dependent

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/4499708-what-is-the-500-credit-for-other-dependents-family-tax-cre...

[Critter-3]

The rules on claiming non relatives as qualifying dependents changed more than 20 years ago not just last year.  If you had completed the MY INFO section correctly the TT program would have properly listed the child as a qualifying relative not a qualifying child since it follows the IRS guidelines...

IRS interview to help determine who can be claimed:

https://www.irs.gov/help/ita/who-can-i-claim-as-a-dependent

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/3113432-who-can-i-claim-as-my-dependent 

[macuser_22]

A child can be a "grandson" either by blood or marriage.   If neither then the child cannot be your grandson even if you treat him as such.

The law did not change in 2019 - it has always been that way.  If you have claimed him improperly in the past then you probably owe back tax for those years also.

[stacyr36]

They are saying I cant claim him as a dependent at all I owe for . A Dependent and for filing head of household he has lived with me his whole life off and on but has lived with me on a steady everyday for the last 2.5 years with his mom off who knows where . I have supported him for those years everyday .

[xmasbaby0]

Sorry---the tax laws say you cannot claim him.  You cannot claim him as a dependent in order to file as Head of Household.  Only a child who is related to you by blood or marriage can be claimed in order for you to file as Head of Household.  Even if you supported the child...sorry.  That is how the tax law was written.  

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/2900097-what-is-a-qualifying-person-for-head-of-household

[macuser_22]

Sorry, but to claim Head of Household your dependent MUST be related to you by blood or marriage.   The most you can get for a unrelated dependent is the $500 other dependent credit - nothing else.

Head of Household is for UNMARRIED taxpayers with a related dependent or married and have not lived with their spouse at anytime during the last 6 months of the tax year AND has a child, stepchild or foster child that can be a dependent.
=======================================
You may be able to file as head of household if you meet all the following requirements.

1. You are unmarried or “considered unmarried” on the last day of the year.
(You could be considered unmarried if your spouse did not live in your home at any time during the last 6 months of the tax year).
If you were considered married for part of the year and lived in a community property state, special rules may apply in determining your income and expenses. See Publication 555 for more information.

2. You paid more than half the cost of keeping up a home for the year.

3. A “qualifying person” lived with you in the home for more than half the year (except for temporary absences such as school) - a parent does not have to live with you to be a qualifying person.

4. If the qualifying person is your qualifying relative, their gross income must have been less than $4,200 (do not include non taxable Social Security) and you provided more than 1/2 of their support

5. You must be able to claim the dependent for the qualifying person except in the case of divorced or separated parents (that lived apart) and the noncustodial parent is claiming the dependent.

A Qualifying person is either:
A qualifying child or a qualifying closely related relative and meets certain other requirements, however if you are considered unmarried it can only be your child, stepchild, or foster child.

See IRS Publication 501 for more information about who is a qualifying person and a worksheet to determine the cost of keeping up a home.

See IRS Pub 501 for more information
https://www.irs.gov/publications/p501#en_US_2018_publink1000220775

Persons that qualify you for HOH can only be:

• Your child, stepchild, foster child, or a descendant of any of them (for example, your grandchild). (A legally adopted child is considered your child.)

• Your brother, sister, half brother, half sister, stepbrother, or stepsister.

• Your father, mother, grandparent, or other direct ancestor, but not foster parent.

• Your stepfather or stepmother.

• A son or daughter of your brother or sister.

• A son or daughter of your half brother or half sister.

• A brother or sister of your father or mother.

• Your son-in-law, daughter-in-law, father-in-law, mother-in-law, brother-in-law, or sister-in-law.

Any of these relationships that were established by marriage aren't ended by death or divorce.

[Critter-3]

You can amend the return to add the qualifying relative if they do allow it that would get you a $500 credit but no HOH .... so if they disallowed the HOH and dependent then try amending. 

[stacyr36]

This is the first year I tried to claim him . I'm really dumb when it comes to this stuff I thought I was doing it right. Should have just went back to h&r block with having a dependent again I should of never trusted myself with that . I have done my own on herd the last couple years do to not having a dependent anymore with no problem im not trying to blame turbo tax by no means this was my stupidity I want trying to get over on anyone just pure ignorance on my part I. Not dishonest just dumb . 

[macuser_22]

Don't feel too bad, the dependent laws are one of the most complicated and misunderstood part of the tax laws.

[VolvoGirl]

Is the grandfather filing a return?  Maybe he can claim him and get the Head of Household status.

[stacyr36]

I dont need to claim head of household  i was just trying to claim a dependent being how i now had another child to raise it had nothing to do with hoh status that was only because I thought you had to with a dependent yet another dumb moment . I really have no clue how this stuff works and have reading com problems so don't understand have of it when reading the papers I was all stressed trying to figure it out and it took me forever and still messed it up I really should have let someone we else do them. 

[Opus 17]

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@stacyr36 wrote:

I dont need to claim head of household  i was just trying to claim a dependent being how i now had another child to raise it had nothing to do with hoh status that was only because I thought you had to with a dependent yet another dumb moment . I really have no clue how this stuff works and have reading com problems so don't understand have of it when reading the papers I was all stressed trying to figure it out and it took me forever and still messed it up I really should have let someone we else do them. 

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If the child lived in your home every day of the year you are being audited for (probably 2019 or 2018), and if the biological grandfather has less than $4200 of taxable income and does not file a tax return, then you could claim the child as a "qualifying relative" dependent, which would get you a $500 tax credit but does not qualify you to file as head of household or claim EIC. 

It is not clear why you might owe $1600, since that does not match any of the common amounts you might get for claiming a child incorrectly.  It might be the amount of the child tax credit if you did not have very much other taxable income, or it might include EIC.  Or the IRS figure might be wrong.  You can try making an amended return in Turbotax to see if your figure matches the IRS figure.  

It's also not clear if the IRS is saying "you can't claim the child" or the IRS is saying "you can't claim the child as a qualifying child" type of dependent.  If the child lived with you all year and the biological grandfather doesn't file a tax return, you should be able to claim the child as a "qualifying relative" which would get you something.

You may want to have your taxes reviewed by an expert.  Or at least, check your local senior citizen office and see if there is a VITA program near you (tax volunteers who go through IRS training).