@quiesha1983 :
I can't speak to the issue of threats, you may want to see an attorney, social worker or law enforcement.
Purely on the tax issue, if the child lives with you more than half the year (which means, spend more than 183 nights living in your home) then you are entitled to claim the child as a dependent. If you are single and pay more than half the cost of keeping up the home, you can also use the head of household filing status. And depending on your work, you may qualify for EIC.
If you are blocked from e-filing because the other parent already e-filed and claimed the child as a dependent, you can print your return and mail it to the IRS. This will delay your refund by about 2 weeks or so compared to e-filing, so it's not so bad. Around 6-8 months from now, the IRS will send a letter to you and the other parent notifying you that you both claimed the dependent and one of you has to take the child off. Since you are entitled to the child dependent, you do not need to do anything. If the other parent also does nothing, then the IRS will follow up with a second round of letters asking for proof of where the child actually lived. So, you should begin to collect your proof just in case. This could be dated photos, Facebook and instagram posts showing the child living with you; a letter from the school about where your child got picked up by the bus every day; copies of emails and text messages about visitation and custody that can be used to create a calendar showing where your child lived. With this proof, the IRS should let you keep the dependent and will take it away from the other parent, and will owe repayment of taxes with interest, maybe a penalty, and maybe be barred from claiming EIC for up to 10 years.
