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Splitting 3rd stimulus after u file married filing separate

We have always file married filing jointly, this year however married filing separately seems to give us a bigger tax break. However our third stimulus was combined total. Do we just split it per person and dependent?
My husband is going to file for two kids, and claim three people for the stimulus money and I am going to file with one child, and two people for the stimulus money. Is this allows?? There are no forms for this… We received it in full and neither of us filing need the credit.

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3 Replies
KrisD15
Expert Alumni

Splitting 3rd stimulus after u file married filing separate

Well, it really wasn't designed this way, but there is no law restricting you from filing Marred Filing Separate (MFS).

 

Be aware that if you are both living in the same house, more than likely only one of you supply more than half the support of all of you and only that person could legally claim the children as dependents. 

 

(Additionally if you live in a "Community Property State", you may need to split your income and each claim half) 

 

To see what the IRS reports as what you received as Economic impact payments, check the IRS "your Online Account" 

 

According to the IRS:

 

  • Economic impact payments were an advance payment, so taxpayers will see their portion of the payment only

 

IRS your Online account

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Splitting 3rd stimulus after u file married filing separate

The reason is For married filing separately now is because our joint income puts us into a separate tax bracket. Can we legally split who claims the children? We’ve agreed that one of us will claim two and one of us will claim the other kid.. 

KrisD15
Expert Alumni

Splitting 3rd stimulus after u file married filing separate

The link below is an IRS interactive interview about claiming a dependent. 

You can enter your information to get a result.

 

IRS INTERACTIVE INTERVIEW

 

 

According to the IRS:

 

"Tiebreaker rules.

 

To determine which person can treat the child as a qualifying child to claim these five tax benefits, the following tiebreaker rules apply.

  • If only one of the persons is the child's parent, the child is treated as the qualifying child of the parent.

  • If the parents file a joint return together and can claim the child as a qualifying child, the child is treated as the qualifying child of the parents.

  • If the parents don't file a joint return together but both parents claim the child as a qualifying child, the IRS will treat the child as the qualifying child of the parent with whom the child lived for the longer period of time during the year. If the child lived with each parent for the same amount of time, the IRS will treat the child as the qualifying child of the parent who had the higher adjusted gross income (AGI) for the year.

  • If no parent can claim the child as a qualifying child, the child is treated as the qualifying child of the person who had the highest AGI for the year.

  • If a parent can claim the child as a qualifying child but no parent does so claim the child, the child is treated as the qualifying child of the person who had the highest AGI for the year, but only if that person's AGI is higher than the highest AGI of any of the child's parents who can claim the child.

 

Subject to these tiebreaker rules, you and the other person may be able to choose which of you claims the child as a qualifying child."

 

IRS LINK

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