Divorced with children - Question about form 8332

[Hal_Al]

Yes

[bergmara]

If I earn less than 35,000 per year and am filing single would I qualify for EIC without dependents?

[Hal_Al]

No. For single, w/o kids, EIC stops at $15K

[bergmara]

Thank you for all your help.  It is greatly appreciated.

[jayden0812]

I do not think this information is correct. Ease provide IRS publication that states dependent tax benefits can be "split". IRS Publication 17 specifically states the following "Sometimes, a child meets the relationship, age, residency, support, and joint return tests to be a qualifying child of more than one person. Although the child is a qualifying child of each of these persons, only one person can actually treat the child as a qualifying child to take all of the following tax benefits (provided the person is eligible for each benefit).

The exemption for the child.

The child tax credit.

Head of household filing status.

The credit for child and dependent care expenses.

The exclusion from income for dependent care benefits.

The earned income credit.

The other person cannot take any of these benefits based on this qualifying child. In other words, you and the other person cannot agree to divide these benefits between you. The other person cannot take any of these tax benefits for a child unless he or she has a different qualifying child." Reference <a href="http://www.irs.gov/publications/p17/ch03.html#en_US_2014_publink1000204295" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.irs.gov/publications/p17/ch03.html#en_US_2014_publink1000204295</a>

Please explain where this rule is offset

[macuser_22]

@jayden0812 - The "Children of separated or divorced parents that live apart." rule.
<a href="http://www.irs.gov/publications/p17/ch03.html#en_US_2014_publink1000170897" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.irs.gov/publications/p17/ch03.html#en_US_2014_publink1000170897</a>

"Applying this special rule to divorced or separated parents (or parents who live apart).   If a child is treated as the qualifying child of the noncustodial parent under the rules described earlier for children of divorced or separated parents (or parents who live apart), only the noncustodial parent can claim an exemption and the child tax credit for the child. However, the custodial parent, if eligible, or other eligible person can claim the child as a qualifying child for head of household filing status, the credit for child and dependent care expenses, the exclusion for dependent care benefits, and the earned income credit. If the child is the qualifying child of more than one person for these benefits, then the tiebreaker rules just explained determine which person can treat the child as a qualifying child."

As you linked to.

[ayazomar]

Splitting the credit??? Wow, what a difficult thing to get to the bottom of.  So yes, under special rules for divorced parents, usually father the higher earner and noncustodial parent can claim the Dependent Exemption and the Child Tax Credits but not the EIC , Head of Household, and Child Care Expenses (which goes to mom).  AND whats neat is that the residence test of having the child over 6 months does not apply to the special situation.  SO father can have the child less than 6 months and still claim the dependency exemption.  But for the online tax software you will still have to put "7 months" to get it to process.  Some of these things are explained all over the place in bits and pieces.  I guess the IRS doesnt make it obvious.  You have to gather the info yourself to make it all whole.  Notice when the IRS answers some questions about splitting an exemption they are saying "no" to splitting the same "dependent exemption".  But you CAN split other child tax benefits, like EIC to one parents, and dependent exemption to the other parent under special divorced situation.  <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://www.eitc.irs.gov/Tax-Preparer-Toolkit/faqs/divorced">https://www.eitc.irs.gov/Tax-Preparer-T... at the IRS answer in bold and not the initial "no".  The trick is if separated last 6 months of the year AND form 8332 is signed.)  Also the descriptions here about a "qualifying child"  <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://www.irs.gov/uac/A-%E2%80%9CQualifying-Child%E2%80%9D">https://www.irs.gov/uac/A-%E2%80%9CQua...> (notice how under residency test it says exceptions apply for special cases like divorced parents).  Form 8332 also explains a little itself how residency test does not apply.  One thing that is left confusing is if mom can still claim child tax credit if dad does not need it etc.  The IRS answers that elsewhere here and says no.  <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://www.irs.gov/Help-&-Resources/Tools-&-FAQs/FAQs-for-Individuals/Frequently-Asked-Tax-Question... form 8332 is signed mom signs over child tax credit and the dependent exemption.

[Hal_Al]

It's not true that the non-custodial parent will still have to put "7 months" with online software. In fact, putting more than 6 months will cause TT to treat you as the custodial parent and give you the things you're not entitled to

[ryderdaniel45]

You won't have a problem. My sons mother doesn't work so she never does taxes... That's another story.. But I always claim my son and we have nothing in writing saying who can claim him and I've never had a problem. As long as your ex doesn't try and claim them as well then you'll have no problem at all.

[Hal_Al]

If the mother lives with another relative, e.g. her parent, that relative has a higher claim on the child than you do. So, there's still that possibility.

[ryderdaniel45]

Yeah that's true but he said that she isn't going to claim them so if she doesn't and doesn't have a problem with him claiming them I don't think he should have a problem. And as far as I go my sons mother lives on her own with her new boyfriend. She can't do taxes because she can't work or she would lose all of her "free money" from you and I... i don't wanna go into it because I'll just end up pissed off and ramble on for hours on this guys question lol. But yeah I don't think he will have a problem as long as the mother isn't going to try and claim them as well.

[Hal_Al]

More bad news: the new boyfriend has a higher claim on claiming your children, so long as they lived with him all year.

[tabathasiemann]

A form 8332 is not necessary if the other parent is not going to claim your children as dependents. Problems arise when two people in different households claim the same dependens.

[macuser_22]

To be precise, not "two different people",  a 8332 is required when the non-custodial parent is going to claim a child's exemption.  The custodial parent must release the exemption to the non-custodial parent with a 8332 form.

[unccharlotte]

For example, in my case the children live with her 9 months out of the year and we have nothing in our Divorce Decree or Separation Agreement or Custody Agreement that states who gets to claim the children as Dependents each year. Since our Divorce, my ex claimed the children as Dependents. Can I claim them this year? Then we can alternate each year.