How can I allow my ex-husband to claim the children without lying about him having them most of the year?

[Cad05877]

I have my children 9 months out of the year. I am familiar with Form 8332 and how it can grant my ex-husband permission to claim the children even though he doesn't have them most of the year. With that being said, he said that when he filed his taxes there was no way of him to do it other than to lie and say he had them for more than half the year. I really don't want to lie in the future and would like to figure out how he can claim them without having to say this. 

[RBBrittain]

For how to file Form 8332 in TurboTax, see https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/accessing/help/where-is-form-8332/00/26047 .

I suspect your ex-husband's lie is allowing him to claim head of household filing status, dependent care credit, and possibly EITC based on your child; Form 8332 only allows him to claim the child tax credit and possibly a few other things tied to the now-suspended dependent exemption. By lying, he's almost certainly taking money YOU are entitled to from Uncle Sam. You might wanna talk to your divorce lawyer and/or a tax professional about this.

[Bsch4477]

Tell your ex he is misinformed and just has to file the 8332 you are giving him with his return to claim the dependency and child tax credit. As mentioned, you can still file as head of household and claim child care credit and EIC if otherwise qualified. A tax program will allow him to claim dependency with a 8332 even though he doesn’t live with the child. Or he can consult a paid tax preparer. 

[Hal_Al]

 There is a special rule in the case of divorced & separated (including never married) parents. When the non-custodial parent is claiming the child as a dependent/exemption/child tax credit; the custodial parent is still allowed to claim the same child for Earned Income Credit, Head of Household filing status, and day care credit. This "splitting of the child" is not available to parents who lived together at any time during the last 6 months of the year; then only one of you can claim the child for any tax reasons. The tax benefits may not be split in any other manner.

Note in particular that the non-custodial parent can never claim the Earned Income Credit, Head of Household filing status or the day care credit, based on that child, even when the custodial parent has released the dependency to him.

 So, it's good idea to let the other parent know that you will be claiming those items, as many first time divorced parents are not aware of this rule and may try to claim those items, which will cause the IRS to send out letters.

Ref: https://www.irs.gov/publications/p17#en_US_2017_publink1000170897

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