Claiming dependents

Forum|Forum|1 year ago
January 29, 2025
1 reply
4 views

Hello,

My husband and I are married, lived together all year and have two qualifying dependents. I made less than him but contributed to our yearly expenses equally. I plan to file married filing separately. I want to put dependents on my tax return because he owes a federal tax debt. Is this possible even though we both can claim them and we both live together and I made less for the year?

Ask the Experts - Family Tax II - Jan 2025

MinhT1

Level 15

In almost all situations, it is more beneficial to file Married Filing Jointly than Married Filing Separately.

Please read this TurboTax Help topic for more information.

In your case, you can consider filing jointly and filing form 8379 - Injured Spouse to protect your share of the tax refund.

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harkyAuthor

Level 2

Based on a quick run through with me claiming dependents when using “married filing separately”, our refund is much larger compared to filing jointly.
I just want to make sure I can still claim dependents on my tax return even though we are married and live together and can both claim dependents. Thanks

Vanessa A

Level 15

Yes, even if you are married and live together and file separately, you can still claim the kids. However, only one person can claim each child. So if you have 2 kids, you can claim one and they can claim one or you can claim 2 and they can claim 0.

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