Can I claim my 2 year old grandchild who has lived with us for part of the year?

[viment]

We have joint custody with the father, which im sure he will claim him also.

[xmasbaby0]

The child cannot be claimed on two tax returns.    Where did the child live?   Did he live with you----or his father?   Or do you all live together?

[ColeenD3]

In the case that two parties wish to claim the same child, the IRS has tiebreaker rules. The parent has precedence over a non-parent.

• If only one of the persons is the child's parent, the child is treated as the qualifying child of the parent.

• If the parents file a joint return together and can claim the child as a qualifying child, the child is treated as the qualifying child of the parents.

• If the parents don't file a joint return together but both parents claim the child as a qualifying child, the IRS will treat the child as the qualifying child of the parent with whom the child lived for a longer period of time during the year. If the child lived with each parent for the same amount of time, the IRS will treat the child as the qualifying child of the parent who had the higher adjusted gross income (AGI) for the year.

• If no parent can claim the child as a qualifying child, the child is treated as the qualifying child of the person who had the highest AGI for the year.

• If a parent can claim the child as a qualifying child but no parent does so claim the child, the child is treated as the qualifying child of the person who had the highest AGI for the year, but only if that person's AGI is higher than the highest AGI of any of the child's parents who can claim the child. If the child's parents file a joint return with each other, this rule can be applied by treating the parents' total AGI as divided evenly between them.