I am divorced with 4 kiddos, we have joint physical and joint legal custody of them. In some cases my sons have not been going to their dads for visitation so therefore they have lived with me the majority of the year. I was under impression I could send form 8332 certified mail to the father revoking his right to claim them since they lived with me. Is this correct? I am seeing custodial and non custodial verbiage and we are both custodial by what I’m reading in our decree. Is this form valid then to send or not? If ever audited how do u show the child lived with one parent more than the other? Want to make sure I'm filing correctly to the IRS because I had sent that form to him to revoke one of my boys since he was not going there to be with other parent.
Form 8332 is used by a custodian parent for the following:
In other words, you can use the form to agree not to claim a child, and thus allowing their dad to claim them. You can agree not to claim for a single year, or for multiple years. You can also use it to revoke your release if you previously agreed not claim the child for multiple years. You cannot use it to revoke his rights according to a custodial agreement. You can only use it to waive your right or or revoke your waiver of that right.
If the custodian agreement states who can claim the children on their tax return you will have to honor that. If it is silent, there are rules about who can claim them. I suggest you review the following resources to determine who is entitled to claim the children.