Child tax credit and child support garnishment

[stefanitucker2012]

My husband has his income tax refund garnished for arrears. We had a child last year and want to claim our child tax credit but dont want it to be garnished. What would be the better option to file separately on the same return and I claim the child tax credit or file jointly and file an injured spouse form. The only thing is with the injured spouse form if we jointly claim the child tax credit how do they decide what gets garnished do they take half and give me half? 

[ThomasM125]

You would have to prepare the filing separate return to know if it will benefit you more than filing jointly.  It is difficult to predict the outcome of filing separately as you are dealing with different tax brackets and allowable credits than when you file jointly.

If you file jointly, you need to allocate the child tax credit to the spouse who would qualify to claim the child if you filed separately. If you both live together, that would normally be the spouse who has the higher income. You would be entitled to the child tax credit when filing as an injured spouse if you were allowed to claim the child if you had filed separately.

[xmasbaby0]

It is not easy to compare MFJ to MFS using online TT but you can do it.  Since you only get one return for each account and user ID, you have to use 3 accounts and user ID’s—one for MFJ and two for each of the MFS returns.  Compare, choose, and file—and pay—accordingly.

It is much easier to do this comparison using the desktop version of TT installed from a CD or downloaded to your own computer.  You pay once for the software and you can prepare multiple returns easily, and it has a “what if” feature that allows comparisons.

WHAT IF…?

If you are using Desktop software:

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/2895312-how-can-we-compare-married-filing-jointly-with-married-fil...