topic Can my boyfriend legally claim me and my child if I don’t claim her? I’m 17 my child’s younger. Me have lived together 7 months and are married in Get your taxes done using TurboTax

Can my boyfriend legally claim me and my child if I don’t claim her? I’m 17 my child’s younger. Me have lived together 7 months and are married

lyndsey-af95-icl — Wed, 11 Feb 2026 04:47:22 GMT

Re: Can my boyfriend legally claim me and my child if I don’t claim her? I’m 17 my child’s younger. Me have lived together 7 months and are married

DoninGA — Thu, 01 Feb 2024 23:04:11 GMT

If you are legally married you cannot be claimed as a dependent. You should be filing as Married Filing Jointly and enter the child on your tax return as a dependent.

Re: Can my boyfriend legally claim me and my child if I don’t claim her? I’m 17 my child’s younger. Me have lived together 7 months and are married

lyndsey-af95-icl — Thu, 01 Feb 2024 23:08:19 GMT

Sorry meant we aren’t married

Re: Can my boyfriend legally claim me and my child if I don’t claim her? I’m 17 my child’s younger. Me have lived together 7 months and are married

DoninGA — Thu, 01 Feb 2024 23:11:14 GMT

@lyndsey-af95-icl wrote:

Sorry meant we aren’t married

Well, that makes a big difference.

The BF cannot claim either you or your child on his tax return since you both have not lived in his home for the entire year.

Re: Can my boyfriend legally claim me and my child if I don’t claim her? I’m 17 my child’s younger. Me have lived together 7 months and are married

Opus 17 — Thu, 01 Feb 2024 23:16:28 GMT

If the child is not your boyfriend's child, then your boyfriend can't claim the child as a dependent unless the child lived in the same home as the boyfriend for all 365 days of the year, AND you don't file a tax return. Even if your boyfriend did claim the child, that type of dependent does not qualify for EIC or the child tax credit.

If it is also your boyfriend's biological child, then either one of you can claim the child but not both.

Re: Can my boyfriend legally claim me and my child if I don’t claim her? I’m 17 my child’s younger. Me have lived together 7 months and are married

lyndsey-af95-icl — Thu, 01 Feb 2024 23:28:15 GMT

even if he’s lived in the same house as the child since she was born which is 4 months? And had lived with me for 7 months?

Re: Can my boyfriend legally claim me and my child if I don’t claim her? I’m 17 my child’s younger. Me have lived together 7 months and are married

Opus 17 — Fri, 02 Feb 2024 00:05:12 GMT

@lyndsey-af95-icl wrote:

even if he’s lived in the same house as the child since she was born which is 4 months? And had lived with me for 7 months?

If the child has lived in in the boyfriend's home all year since the child was born, that counts as "all year." Make sure that the boyfriend selects "all year" in the dependent interview.

However, if the boyfriend is not the biological father, he must select "another person" as the type of relative, not his own child. And that type of dependent is not eligible for your boyfriend to file as head of household, or claim the $2000 child tax credit, or claim EIC. He would only get a $500 credit for "other dependent."