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Yes if your girlfriend does not have to file a return because she earned less than 3900.00 in earned income and she is the sole physical custody parent of the children and their father does not have a court order saying he can claim them, provided she and the children lived with you the entire 12 months of the year and you provided 50% or more of the support for them you can absolutely claim them!! All of them even the girlfriend and it wont hurt her food stamps so long as she informed them you live in the house, if your not married in California anyway they dont count your income provided she buys and prepares food for her and the kids separate, now if she didnt tell them you were in the house then she could be in big trouble. She can report you living in the home and not lose her food stamps as long as she buys and prepares food for her and the children separate. You can still claim all 3 of them though and nothing legally will affect you or your tax situation.
Yes you can legally claim her kids. Yes it could cause her benefits to cease. She could also be charged with fraud, imprisoned and fined (up to $25,000). The question is one you must ask yourself, "Is the money worth the risk."
that's absolutely not true! after my separation from my ex-husband, i attempted to apply for SNAP and had to even give my 18 year old son's income info. i even received a visit to make sure my ex-husband was no longer living here since not all of our paperwork was finalized and he hadn't changed his address on everything yet!
Unfortunately, this is not a tax-related question. The determination as to food stamp benefits and qualifications should be left up to the State and or County where you live.
Before casting stones, you might want to be certain that your facts are correct. This woman is not required to report her boyfriend’s income for food stamps or other benefits (welfare as you call it.) If they were married, it would be different & both incomes would be required to determine the household’s eligibility. Obviously in this case, they are not married so the boyfriend has no legal obligation to support those children (even if he chooses to because he is a decent human being.) Therefore it is not certain & legally unknown whether or not he will continue to contribute his income to benefit the girlfriend & her kids because he could decide at any point to simply stop supporting them. Or they could break up much easier than a husband & wife (& are more likely to than a married couple) so the government can not require this woman to claim income that is not legally hers or under her control that she may or may not continue to receive. Since they’re not married, the girlfriend has no provisions under the law to ensure she would continue receiving that income the way a married woman could be entitled to post-separation support should her husband decide to leave.
Next time, before becoming so sanctimonious & deciding to judge and condescend someone, you may want to have your facts straight first so you don’t look like such an [removed]; because you do along with everyone else here squawking that this woman is committing welfare fraud. She is not, and you all need to recognize and remember that every single one of you is just one mistake or cataclysmic event away from being in this woman’s shoes and having to depend on government benefits yourselves to survive & feed your family. In that event, imagine how you’d hope others would treat you and extend that same consideration to people currently on benefits instead of casting judgment and looking down on them.
a little off topic, but if my girlfriend and her kids live with me and I support them. Can I claim one of her children? she will claim the other two.
In order to claim someone who is not related to you by blood or marriage as a dependent, certain criteria must be met. One of those criteria is that the child must not be eligible to be a qualifying child of any other taxpayer. Therefore, if the child is eligible to be claimed as your girlfriend's dependent, you cannot claim him/her. Only your girlfriend can take the dependency exemption.
@mikeymike - Even if they qualified as your dependent, you would not be allowed the Earned Income credit (EIC) or Child tax credit, because they are not related. So, your girl friend is better off claiming all 3, for the additional EIC and maybe some more CTC
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