Are you the custodial parent who the child lived with more than half the year or are you the non-custodial parent? If you are the non-custodial parent, are you divorced and do the documents give you the right to claim the dependency exemption for the child in certain years?
Thank you for responding! We actually were never married and my child was born this year. The mother was not employed all year and is unable to file taxes. I pay child support to her even though there is nothing through the courts saying to do so. We have been able to be civil until this point, when I asked for the social. She told me that she was going to have her brother claim my child, which from my understanding can NOT happen.
Did mother and child live with her brother all year? When was the child born?
If the child did not live with you more than half the time in 2016 since the child was born, you can't claim the child as a qualifying child on your tax return.
The brother cannot claim the child as a qualifying child on his tax return if the child did not live with him more that half the time in 2016 since the child was born.
The mother and I live separately. We live in the same town and I have the kids every other weekend and any other time we agree upon it. I have been the only financial supporter for my kids.
It was agreed upon that I would claim my oldest, and she would claim the baby. But she is unable to file this year because she has not had a job at all this year.
Did the mother receive any unemployment compensation in 2016? Does she live with her family and did she all year?
No she has not. She chose not to work. She lives in low income apartments and lives off of the child support that I give her.
Did she provide written permission for you to claim the oldest child?
Based on everything you have said, it appears that on one can claim the child as a qualifying child dependent on their tax return. Neither you or the brother can claim the child because the child did not live with you more than half the nights since it was born. The mother can't claim the child because she is not required to file a tax return. This means that the child could only be claimed as a qualifying relative dependent which is a different kind of dependent. For you to claim the child as that type of dependent, you would have had to provide more than half of the child's total support since he was born. Support includes housing, utilities, food, clothes, etc. This type of dependent gives you a $4050 dependency exemption but no other child tax benefits. You would still need the social security number to claim the child for this type of dependent.
No, we have been able to be civil and agree upon things until now
Sounds like no one can claim the baby except you. But you can't, either, without her written consent.
Texas Roger: He is the father. With a signed form 8332 he is entitled to claim the baby.
The law says that for the non-custodial parent to be able to claim the child they must have written permission from the custodial parent and must submit a copy of that, each year, to the IRS.
You know, since her brother is unable to claim the baby and doing so is worth, probably, quite a bit of money to you, maybe you should offer to share the tax benefit with her so that she will give permission, SSN, etc.
BobB7: The 8332 is used to relinquish the dependency exemption and child tax credit to the non custodial parent. Nothing else. Since the child is not the qualifying child of the mother because she is not required to file an income tax return, does she then have the right to relinquish the dependency exemption to the father? I can't find any examples of this specific situation in Pub. 17. I do know that someone would be able to claim the child as a qualifying relative in this situation (if they met the tests) since the child is not the qualifying child of anyone. I welcome your incite.
@Texas Roger The child should still be the QC of the mother, even if she isn't required to file a tax return, right? I don't see anything that says otherwise.
@TaxGuyBill My only reference is in Pub. 4012 Volunteer Resource Guide where it says "A child is not the qualifying child of any other taxpayer if the child's parent (or any other person for whom the child is defined as a qualifying child) is not required to file an income tax return or files an income tax return only to get a refund of income tax withheld." I have not found that wording in Pub. 17 but there are so many examples to look through in that pub that I may have missed it. As we all know, this topic is extremely complicated.