For the majority of last year (2023) I was the custodial parent with his father having regular visitation. However, when we divorced, part of our agreement is that he would claim him every other year. I have the even years (2020, 2022, 2024) and he has the odd (2019, 2021, 2023). I have always marked it as "yes" he is with me primarily through the year, but on the odd years I don't claim him as a dependent. This hasn't been an issue before this year. Now however, despite me not claiming him as a dependent, it seems to have an issue with me having him listed in any capacity. So I don't know if I'm supposed to lie and say he didn't live with me the majority of the year, or if I'm missing something that allows it to be both.
The IRS may view me as custodial for 2023, because of the amount of time my son lived with/stayed with me, but the order we have from court states that he claims him every odd year, so he will (and I believe already has) filed with him as his dependent this year.
We did change custody in the second half of 2023 to joint, and going forward he will/has/is going to have him 50% of the time for 2024 and on, but that doesn't change how we have our filing. I will still only claim him every other year. I'm just not sure how to fix these rejected returns without fully removing him from my file or lying about the amount of time he lived with me, even if I am not claiming him this year.
