@W_Wolf wrote:
My wife and I are in an interim custody agreement, but she left during the second half of the year. I claimed before she did because she was not open for negotiation even though I felt was fair considering I had the higher income for the year. Is this going to be tricky to amend or is there a clear wrong answer?
You say your wife left during the second half of the year. I assume there were kids and she took them with her.
For 2022, both you and your wife qualify to claim the children as dependents, because the children lived with you more than half the year (in the same home). If you agree, either one of you can claim the children and if there are more than one, you can split them any way you like. If you can't agree, the first tiebreaker is where did the children live the greater number of nights. For example, if your wife left Sept 1 and you had the kids every other weekend after that, then you had custody for about 250 nights but your wife had custody about 320 nights.
If the number of nights that you each had custody turns out to be exactly equal, then the second tiebreaker is whose income is higher.
If you have more than one child together, maybe you split them this year. But if your wife is demanding that she claims the child or all the children, and if she had custody more nights than you, then she would win if there was an IRS investigation. It might be simpler at this point to amend your return, remove the children, and pay back any credits. Amending is fairly easy, just don't file your amended return until your original return is processed and any refund paid. There will be no interest or penalties for having to repay part of your refund as long as you file the amended return by April 18.
