Why sign in to the Community?

  • Submit a question
  • Check your notifications
Sign in to the Community or Sign in to TurboTax and start working on your taxes
New Member
posted Jun 4, 2019 1:50:50 PM

Can Child support take taxes for an upcoming year?

My boyfriend claimed me and our child on his 2017 taxes and got audited. They took a portion of state taxes for his past due 2017 child support and then we’ve waited almost a year for our portion of the return. We were sent a notice in October saying they were done and our refund amount would be 4880 and to sign a form and send back. We then received it a few weeks later and it’s only 1300...they took $3500 for 2018 child support. Can we dispute this? Had we not had to wait on them for almost a year, there wouldn’t have been built up back child support when the taxes were released to us. 2018 child support hadn’t been billed yet in 2017...so how is it okay to take money that was already owed to us for a bill that hadn’t even came out? 

0 5 532
5 Replies
Level 15
Jun 4, 2019 1:50:51 PM

Ok ... first let's start with why he was audited ... something was corrected by the IRS and that is what you could have questioned as that time .... so now for what ever the reason the IRS adjusted the return and told you what the new refund amount was and you agreed to it.  Now when the refund is issued they can and will deduct any offsets on the books and there is nothing you can do about that. The iRS should send you a letter explaining what was taken and for what ... if you disagree with that then you have to take it up with the Child Support Division. 

New Member
Jun 4, 2019 1:50:53 PM

The audit was because we were misinformed and thought he could claim my child from a previous marriage because we’d lived together and he’d supported the child all year. The audit itself wasn’t the problem but rather they paid a bill that hadn’t even been billed yet out of the taxes. I thought tax stuff and debts incurred were no longer factored in after 12/17 for the 2017 year of taxes. I’m just not sure why they took 2018s bills/debt out of taxes from a previous year and not out of 2018s taxes.

Level 9
Jun 4, 2019 1:50:54 PM

The IRS is required to withhold the refund for the Child Support based on when the IRS issues the check.  It does not matter what year the Child Support was due, it just matters how much Child Support was due when the IRS issued the check.

On another note, if the child lived with him the entire year and he paid for over 50% of the child's support, he *IS* eligible to claim the child.

Level 15
Jun 4, 2019 1:50:56 PM

Just to add .....   """On another note, if the child lived with him the entire year and he paid for over 50% of the child's support, he *IS* eligible to claim the child ""    

BUT  NOT as a qualifying child just as a qualifying "relative" dependent.   So if they disallowed the child all together he can amend to add the child back on.  

Level 9
Jun 4, 2019 1:50:57 PM

Good point.  Just the exemption, not the Child Tax Credit.