For tax purposes,
there is no such thing as joint custody, regardless of what your legal
agreement says. The requirement, to be custodial parent, is that the child live
with you MORE than 50% of the time. One of you has to be the custodial parent
and the other the non-custodial parent.
The fact tat the child is receiving social security benefits, based on your SSA account, is irrelevant.
The custodial parent
has first priority on claiming the children on her taxes; regardless of the
amount of support provided by the non-custodial parent. The non-custodial
parent can only claim the child as a dependent if the custodial parent gives
permission (on form 8332) or if it's spelled out in a pre 2009 divorce
decree.
There is a way to
split the tax benefits.
There is a
special rule in the case of divorced & separated (including never married)
parents. When the non-custodial parent is claiming the child as a
dependent/exemption/child tax credit; the custodial parent is still allowed to
claim the same child for Earned Income Credit, Head of Household filing status,
and day care credit. This "splitting of the child" is not available
to parents who lived together at any time during the last 6 months of the year;
then only one of you can claim the child for any tax reasons. The tax benefits
may not be split in any other manner.
Note in particular
that the non-custodial parent can never claim the Earned Income Credit, Head of
Household filing status or the day care credit, based on that child , even when
the custodial parent has released the exemption to him.
