Tax Year Prior to 2020: What to do if someone else claim my son on thier incom tax without my permission

[Shyasia2323]

i need to know wat to do to get my baby money

[xmasbaby0]

@Shyasia2323 You  are posting on someone else's thread and we do not know what issue you are having to get what you are calling your "baby money"----what are you referring to?   Are you asking about your income tax refund?  A child-related credit?  Stimulus check?  Did someone else claim your child as a dependent?

[JuvenileDelinquent]

Then you both get to claim your child. You both equally “own” your child and just for your information your child is not an item or a chew toy. There’s no ownership. Or his or mine. It’s equal unless deemed by the courts or abandonment by either/or party

[DawnC]

A child can only be claimed on 1 tax return per year.   The custodial parent is the parent that qualifies to claim the child as a dependent on their return.   And the custodial parent is the parent whom the child spent the most nights with.    The child is either claimed by both parents on a jointly filed tax return or if the parents are separated, the child is claimed on only 1 parent's tax return, the custodial parent.   @JuvenileDelinquent

Special Rules for Children of Divorced or Separated Individuals

IRS Question

We’re the divorced or legally separated parents of one child. May each parent claim the child as a dependent for a different part of the tax year?

Answer

No, an individual may be a dependent of only one taxpayer for a tax year. You can claim a child as a dependent if he or she is your qualifying child. Generally, the child is the qualifying child of the custodial parent. The custodial parent is the parent with whom the child lived for the longer period of time during the year.   See More Info.  

[Tina4224]

So basically , I won't receive my refund in the alotted 7 business days like normal, when efiled,  bcuz someone negligently used my sons social and claimed him, I now get penalized, and have to file a paper form, wait for a clerk to enter the same info I entered when efiled, and wait for her or him to get the rejected status, because you can't call the irs, wait another 8 to 12 weeks, for the amendment letter, which won't be me amending, then wait another 12 to 16 weeks to get audited, so we're looking at about next year's time frame of filing for that year. Does that make since? In the year 2021, or get maybe red flag a person attempting to use someone's dependent on their own tax return, even tho after 11 years now they have a dependent? So cave men like. For real. A single mother, and its my money , not theirs to take. 

[Critter-3]

@Tina4224 

Yep ... you got it right.  Not fair but then again life is not fair.

Apply for an IP PIN for the child & yourself so that you can stop this from happening in the future ... starting this year you can voluntarily get one ... 

https://www.irs.gov/identity-theft-fraud-scams/get-an-identity-protection-pin

[xmasbaby0]

@Tina4224 Not sure what you mean by the "allotted 7 days" to receive a refund---there is no such allotted time to receive a tax refund.   Unfortunately, if someone has claimed your dependent, the dependent's Social Security number has been put into the system and you will not be able to e-file.  In order to claim your dependent you do have to print, sign and mail your return.   And...it will take longer, because mailed returns typically take longer and during the pandemic, the IRS is backlogged and mailed returns are taking longer than normal.   

You do not have to wait for someone else to amend.   File your tax return by mail claiming your dependent as soon as possible.  Waiting for someone to amend serves no purpose at all.    The amended return will never catch up in the system in order for you to e-file.    

When you mail a tax return, you need to attach any documents showing tax withheld, such as your W-2’s or any 1099’s.  Use a mailing service that will track it, such as UPS or certified mail so you will know the IRS/state received the return.

Federal and state returns must be in separate envelopes and they are mailed to different addresses.  Read the mailing instructions that print with your tax return carefully so you mail them to the right addresses.

[Tina4224]

I mean when I efile my taxes, they are direct deposited into my account with 5 to 7 days, the most. Now I wait about 10 months 

[Tina4224]

So because someone either fraudulently, or by a typo, used my sons social, and filed before me, I now,  instead of getting my refund, that I earned, have to file a paper version, and because of covid, which that shouldn't have any thing to do with, fixing fraudulent claims,  will wait who knows how long, and yes that they told me, they send out amendments letters, and wait for a reply from either me or them, until I get audited, then more paperwork, proving , my son is my son, even after claiming him 11 years, will fight the fight to get the money I earned back. Which then it will be time to file again

[Tina4224]

And irs specifically told me to mail a paper version with nothing else. Even tho I found the " for when someone claims your dependent form" and included that as well. Haven't heard anything yet, 4 weeks so far... 

[Tina4224]

And I spoke and tried to efile on intuit, and no one told me to send it certified or to include any thing but the paperfile. And those are the words of your company. 

[Critter-3]

You are preaching to the choir here  ... that is just  the way the system works  and complaining about it here will get you nowhere.  

The only way to safeguard this in the future is to get an IP PIN for both of you.  

[Tina4224]

It's a random person. And not the other parent using his social, I know fact. 

[Tina4224]

It has nothing to do with another parent otherwise I would have mentioned that before. And I know the rules of custodial parents, and again I know for 110 percent fact it was not my child's father, unless of course he continues to file taxes from his grave.

[Critter-3]

Again it could have been a simple error by another person ... the IRS compares the first 4 letters of the last name, the birth year and the SS#  so if someone made a key stroke error in any of these items then your return got rejected ... this happened to a client of mine who had a common last name and he gave me the SS# and one number was wrong  and it was rejected as already used ... and when we corrected the SS# it went thru so you can see how easy it is to make a mistake ... if my client had filed first with the wrong number then the other person would have been rejected.