newborn kid in married filling separately

[Sana1]

Hello,

I should file in the married filling separately category. I am a mom of a 6-month old girl. I live with my husband in an apartment that we equally pay for the rent and other expenses. We both want to apply for my daughter's tax but my husband said because he has the higher gross income he should claim for her tax. Most of the time I take care of my kid during day and night. He went for some trips while I took care of my daughter alone. How can I prove to the IRS that I'm taking care of the child alone to gain my daughter's tax? I do not have his flight tickets to show I was alone but I can say which days he was not with us during the year. Is there any way that IRS give me the right to claim for my daughter's tax?

[xmasbaby0]

If you are legally married it is best to file a joint return.   If you file married filing separately you give up some of the child-related credits.   

If you were legally married at the end of 2023 your filing choices are married filing jointly or married filing separately.

Married Filing Jointly is usually better, even if one spouse had little or no income. When you file a joint return, you and your spouse will get the married filing jointly standard deduction of $27,700 (+$1500 for each spouse 65 or older)  You are eligible for more credits including education credits, earned income credit, child and dependent care credit, and a larger income limit to receive the child tax credit. 

If you choose to file married filing separately, both spouses have to file the same way—either you both itemize or you both use standard deduction. Your tax rate will be higher than on a joint return.

 Some of the special rules for filing separately include: you cannot get earned income credit, education credits, adoption credits, or deductions for student loan interest. A higher percent of your Social Security benefits may be taxable. Your limit for SALT (state and local taxes and sales tax) will be only $5000 per spouse. In many cases you will not be able to take the child and dependent care credit. The amount you can contribute to a retirement account will be affected. If you live in a community property state, you will be required to provide additional information regarding your spouse’s income. ( Community property states:  AZ, CA, ID, LA, NV, NM, TX, WA, WI)

 If  you are using online TurboTax to prepare your returns, you will need to prepare two separate returns and pay twice since with online, you get one return per fee.

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1894449-married-filing-jointly-vs-married-filing-separately

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1901162-married-filing-separately-in-community-property-states

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1894449-is-it-better-for-a-married-couple-to-file-jointly-or-separ...

[Mike9241]

MFS will probably cost more in combined taxes than a joint return. if MFS is important, the tax laws say that if either can properly claim the child either can but not both. if you can't agree then the iRS says the one with the higher AGI is the one who can claim the child.