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I'm trying to decide who should claim my son; Me or my boyfriend. He made more money this year. However he is not our sons biological father(or step or adopted)

 
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2 Replies
CathiM
New Member

I'm trying to decide who should claim my son; Me or my boyfriend. He made more money this year. However he is not our sons biological father(or step or adopted)

It depends on whether your boyfriend qualifies to claim your son.  The rules are different for your boyfriend than for you.  Here are rules for your boyfriend to claim your son as a Qualifying relative (even though they are not related). See below for rules for you to claim son as a Qualifying Child. 

Qualifying relative

  • They don't have to be related to you (despite the name).
  • They aren't claimed as a dependent by someone else.
  • They are a U.S. citizen, resident alien, national, or a Canadian or Mexican resident.
  • They aren’t filing a joint return with their spouse.
  • They lived with you the entire year.
  • They made less than $4,050 in 2017.
  • You provided more than half of their financial support. More info

When you add someone as a dependent, we'll ask a series of questions to make sure you can claim them.

Qualifying Child:

Tests To Be a Qualifying Child

1. The child must be your son, daughter, stepchild, foster child, brother, sister, half brother, half sister, stepbrother, stepsister, or a descendant of any of them.

2. The child must be (a) under age 19 at the end of the year and younger than you (or your spouse, if filing jointly), (b) under age 24 at the end of the year, a student, and younger than you (or your spouse, if filing jointly), or (c) any age if permanently and totally disabled.

3. The child must have lived with you for more than half of the year.

4. The child must not have provided more than half of his or her own support for the year.

5. The child must not be filing a joint return for the year

 (unless that return is filed only to get a refund of income tax withheld or estimated tax paid).

If the child meets the rules to be a qualifying child of more than one person, only one person can actually treat the child as a qualifying child. See Qualifying Child of More Than One Person to find out which person is the person entitled to claim the child as a qualifying child. 

TomD8
Level 15

I'm trying to decide who should claim my son; Me or my boyfriend. He made more money this year. However he is not our sons biological father(or step or adopted)

If you're filing a tax return, and your son is your qualifying child as defined above, your boyfriend cannot claim him.  

**Answers are correct to the best of my ability but do not constitute tax or legal advice.
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