351872
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.
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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:
Here is the link to Publication 501.
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:
Here is the link to Publication 501.
So I guess my question is this. The "foster parent" is not coming out of pocket to "care for" the child they are fostering. Technically, the state pays the foster to care for the child, so if the state is paying her, and she is using that money to care for the child, why does the foster family get to claim the child at all? There is zero care from her own money!
@user17520970420 You are posting to an old thread that has had no activity since 2019. Are you having some sort of issue or do you have a question about a child who has been placed in foster care? Do you have a child who has been placed in foster care---and are you trying to claim that child on your own tax return?
There are two types of dependents, "Qualifying Children"(QC) and Other ("Qualifying Relative" in IRS parlance even though they don't have to actually be related).
The support test is different for each type. The support test, for a QC, is only that the child didn't provide more than half his own support. The support test for a Qualifying Relative is that the taxpayer provided more than half the relative's support. So, there is no requirement that the relative (a foster parent is a "relative" for tax purposes) provide any support.
.A child closely related to a taxpayer can be a “Qualifying Child (QC)” dependent, regardless of the child's income, if:
See full dependent rules at: https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tools/tax-tips/Family/Rules-for-Claiming-a-Dependent-on-Your-Tax-Ret...
@user17520970420 one of the criteria of a qualiftying child (and most miss this critical point), is how much of their own support does the child provide? it has to be less than 50% as one of the critieria to be a qualifying child.
The fact that the State is paying everything and the foster parents pay nothing is immaterial. That is not the criteria.
The point is the child is paying less than 50%. and THAT satisfies one of the criteria of being a dependent in this case.
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