I am filing a 2019 Federal Tax for my self and for my daughter who turned 18 in 2019 and has been a full time student. I am in the middle of divorce since May 2019.
It looks like I cannot claim our daughter who has been living with me throughout all 2018 and 2019 as a dependent since my most expenditures were covered by credit card debt (which I am still responsible to pay off). My earnings from a part-time job do not sum up to the amount of mortgage that my ex has been paying on the house we own together and which my daughter and I currently occupy. It is not our preference, but so was ordered by the court through Temporary Orders. By the same logic, our daughter's earnings are not large enough to exceed the amount of mortgage paid as well. On the other hand, my ex cannot claim dependents since he has not lived with any of us under the same roof since 2018. He moved out to a different state and was not in military service. So nobody can claim her as a dependent, but she cannot be considered independent at the same time?
I had to draw prematurely from IRA to make ends meet, and now I owe tax of that plus tax on income even though my income is 6,700 for the year and I still had to acquire credit card debt to provide for two of us.
Is it possible not to consider the mortgage paid on the house my daughter and I are staying in if my ex was ordered so by the court?
Can I still include expenses that came not only from earnings but from credit card debt as a provision for my daughter for the purpose of qualifying her as a dependent?
I will be filing single since my ex is very hard to deal with and I cannot trust his paperwork.
Thank you very much for the clarification and suggestions.
