Can I add my child to W-2 if my partner also has added her to his W-2 and also can i claim her on my taxes since we are not joint filing and not married.

[wunsch_anjaela]

My partner does have dependent care set up through his work, but I have paid day care out of pocket and other expenses. He told me that I am not allowed to claim her on my W-2 because he is and on my taxes, but I do not find that to be fair. We are not married and do not share finances so there has to be a way to claim for me also.

[SweetieJean]

Do you mean W=4?

[SweetieJean]

Do you all live together?

[Hal_Al · Accepted solution]

Yes, you can claim the child on your W-4, at work. It doesn’t matter that somebody else is claiming her; as the W-4 is only an estimate, for withholding purposes, of the eventual tax due. What you (or your partner) claim on your W-4 does not lock you in to what you can (or cannot) claim at tax time.

 At tax time, there is NO way for both of you  to claim  her. Only one of you can claim her, and that most likely is you, because you said “my child”, instead of “our child”. If the child is not his biological, or adopted, daughter, he cannot claim her, if you are required to file a tax return. He also cannot claim tax free dependent care benefits. He will have to pay tax on the work benefits, he received.

 However, if she is his child, too; the two of you may decide, between you, who will claim her. But, only one of you can claim her. If you cannot agree, on who will claim her, the parent with the higher income has the higher right.

[SweetieJean]

This assumes they all live together. Otherwise, the parent with whom the child lives gets first dibs.

[wunsch_anjaela]

Thank you for the answer. I did not mean for it to sound like its not our child together.  It is his child also biologically and that greatly helps. My only downfall is he makes more than me so he gets to I guess claim her on taxes, but I wont see I dime of that even though I pay things too. We do live together for now.

[Hal_Al]

Usually, the family comes out better if the higher income parents claim the child. He can usually claim Head of Household, if he has a dependent. The lower income parent usually cannot.
But the only way to be sure which way is best* is to do comparative returns prior to making a decision. This tool is useful for that purpose: <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tools/calculators/taxcaster/?s=1">https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-to...>

*It's possible for the lower income parent to get a bigger Earned Income Credit (EIC) than the higher income parent and this can, sometimes, make the difference.

[wunsch_anjaela]

OK so is it my W-2 or W-4 that needs to be changed through work?

[Hal_Al]

W-4.