Dependent Kidnapped

[Jayada123123]

My 3 year old daughter was abducted by her non-custodial mother 1.5 years ago. On the court order, the mother is not to claim the daughter as her dependent nor for any child tax credit. Last year, however, she did claim the daughter. As such, my taxes were returned back to me and I was unable to file them, since my daughter was claimed on someone else's taxes. I refilled my taxes with the IRS, showing the documentation and the situation I am in. I haven't heard back from the IRS. What should I do? What should I do this upcoming year to no be in this situation again?

[SoCalGal22]

I'm so sorry to hear this.  It definitely sounds like a situation that goes far beyond your tax return.  Best advise is to contact a lawyer and see if the court can locate your non-custodial parent by their tax return address, W2 or 1099 filings.  I hope you and your child are reunited soon.

The IRS usually looks at court filings on custody, so I would include that.  here are the IRS Tie-Breaker Rules.  The parent the child lived with the longest,  after that the parent with the highest AGI.  Parents have more claim than any non-parent.

https://apps.irs.gov/app/IPAR/resources/help/tbrk09.html

 Do these help in any way?  Please let me know if you are looking for more detail on any one of these.

[drc845443]

Hello there,

If you already filed your tax return by mail and claimed your child for the last tax year in accordance with the steps in the link below, and you still have not had from the IRS, you should set up an appointment with the nearest IRS office to explain your situation.

https://www.irs.gov/identity-theft-fraud-scams/identity-theft-dependents

It already takes the IRS a long time to investigate and resolve cases like yours. That situation has been compounded by the backlog created by the Covid 19 pandemic, so you may need to be patient.

[MariaDG]

Hi Jayada123123,  I'm so sorry to hear you are going through such a difficult time. I do hope things improve for you soon. I just wanted to add a couple more pieces of information. 

 Unfortunately, the IRS is a bit backlogged at the moment, so things are taking quite a bit longer than they may have in the past. When the IRS does process the return you mailed, which could take quite some time, they will likely mail a letter to the mother, asking if she would like to amend her return, or file additional information as you did. If the return is not amended within a certain time frame, they will begin an investigation, or audit, to determine who is in the right. It may take a couple of months from that point before you hear from them about the audit, and it may take considerable time to be resolved.  Its important to keep in mind that the IRS considers a child to live with you/qualify as a dependent if they were kidnapped by a non-family member. (Or at least the authorities believe that to be the case. )  So its possible the IRS may rule that the mother is not allowed to claim her as a dependent, but may also not allow you to do so either.  Its in their hands now.  I agree with SoCalGal22's advise to get a tax lawyer involved. Best wishes for a speedy outcome for you.

As far as preventing this from happening again, there is little that can be done, either by you or the IRS, to stop someone from filing a tax return for any given social security number. If it turns out the mother filed fraudulently, there would likely be a penalty to her, which may be an incentive not to do this again.

Are you certain it was the mother who filed the return? I know the IRS does not give out that information. It may be worth considering if it could have been a case of identity theft. If it was an identity thief who filed for your daughter's social security number, you could report that to the IRS on a form 14039. In that case, you might be able to get them to issue an Identity Protection Pin Number for your daughter. These are renewed annually. You would have to wait until you received it in the mail each year to file your taxes, but nobody else would be able to file for her.

[Jayada123123]

Thank you,

TurboTax was able to provide information that the mother indeed did file the return. The limited email and banking information given to me matched to what I had in my records for her.

As far as identity theft, I was told from TurboTax through a generic email that my "information was used on someone else's return". I don't know what parts of my information were used, however, we were divorced at the time of the filing and I so I did file a 14039 for my own protection.

I'm guessing that the first and best step to prevent this from happening again next year, as you mention, is to obtain a tax lawyer to see which avenues to go through with the courts and possible penalties?

Thank you

[Bsch4477]

@Jayada123123   You wrote “My 3 year old daughter was abducted by her non-custodial mother 1.5 years ago.”. Did your daughter live with your ex during 2021?  If so, the IRS considers her to be the custodial parent for tax purposes.  The IRS doesn’t consider a divorce agreement or court order. If that is your situation your recourse is to go to court to enforce the court order.