I filed my foster care children on my taxes, now the bio parents are making waves.. who has the right? We had them almost 8 months and placed by dept human services.

[bscollins62]

We filed our foster kids on our taxes.  The state took custody March 27 (2018), but they have been in our home since March 8 when they were removed from their bios home.  Now the bios want to file the kids on their taxes but they have not had them since March 8.  We have supported them since they came here, albeit bios provide a bill of groceries (less than 300.00) using food stamps and a couple boxes of diapers...they are claiming they supported them.  What case do we have and are we in the right or wrong?  There were 4 children.  We got emergency foster (custody / care) March 27, 2018 and had them until Oct. 22, 2018.  We had them removed and they were placed in other homes (first separated) then with the bio moms mother... If they were with us the majority of the year, who has legal right to claim on taxes?  Currently, the bios still do not have custody.

[KittyM · Accepted solution]

To prove your legal right to claim your foster children on your tax return, consider the following:

Foster children fall under the definition of Qualifying Child for the purposes of claiming them on your return.  In addition, you need to show the children spent 183 nights or more in your home.  There is a "Support Worksheet" in Publication 501 (the link is below) to prove you provided over half the support. In addition to the general rules of citizenship, not claiming their self on a return, and not filing a joint return with someone else, you must be able to answer "yes" to all of the following questions:

• Are they related to you? The child can be your son, daughter, stepchild, eligible foster child, brother, sister, half brother, half sister, stepbrother, stepsister, adopted child or an offspring of any of them.
• Do they meet the age requirement? Your child must be under age 19 or, if a full-time student, under age 24. There is no age limit if your child is permanently and totally disabled.
• Do they live with you? Your child must live with you for more than half the year (183 nights).
• Do you financially support them? Your child may have a job, but that job cannot provide more than half of her support.
• Are you the only person claiming them? This requirement commonly applies to children of divorced parents, where you often must apply the “tie breaker rules."  These rules may also help you prove your right to claim your foster children, as these rules establish income, parentage and residency requirements for claiming a child.

Here is the link to Publication 501.