2024 Children claim

Forum|Forum|1 year ago
January 27, 2025
2 replies
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Wanted to know who can claim children for 2024? My wife left our home a week before the year ended 2024 and has our children. I understand that maybe 2025 she will be able to claim, but since we have been filing married jointly since marriage, how should 2024 be file- married, filing separately and who can claim the children? I am the one that has been the head since marriage.

Best answer by NCPERSON1

@aguile12 as stated above, if the two of you can not agree on filing JOINT (since both have to sign the same tax return), then your only choice is filing SEPARATE.

as far as the children go, if you two can't agree on who is going to claim the children (since they lived with both of you for more than 6 months of the year), the IRS has tie-breaker rules.

rule #1 is who they lived with for a larger portion of the year. She wins since the children lived with her for 52 weeks and you for 50 weeks.

just so you have it, if rule #1 was a tie, then rule #2 is who earned the larger amount of money - that is who can claim the children.

if this situation continues for all of 2025, she would file HOH and you would file Married - Filing Separate. She is able to file HOH if she lived apart from you for at least the last 6 months of the tax year.

xmasbaby0

Employee

If you were legally married at the end of 2024 your filing choices are married filing jointly or married filing separately. Since you all lived in the same household until late December, neither one of you can file as Head of Household.

Married Filing Jointly is usually better, even if one spouse had little or no income. When you file a joint return, you and your spouse will get the married filing jointly standard deduction of $29,200 (+ $1550 for each spouse 65 or older) for 2024. You are eligible for more credits including education credits, earned income credit, child and dependent care credit, and a larger income limit to receive the child tax credit.

If you choose to file married filing separately, both spouses have to file the same way—either you both itemize or you both use standard deduction. Your tax rate will be higher than on a joint return.

Some of the special rules for filing separately include: you cannot get earned income credit, education credits, adoption credits, or deductions for student loan interest. A higher percent of your Social Security benefits may be taxable. Your limit for SALT (state and local taxes and sales tax) will be only $5000 per spouse. In many cases you will not be able to take the child and dependent care credit. The amount you can contribute to a retirement account will be affected. If you live in a community property state, you will be required to provide additional information regarding your spouse’s income. ( Community property states: AZ, CA, ID, LA, NV, NM, TX, WA, WI)

If you are using online TurboTax to prepare your returns, you will need to prepare two separate returns and pay twice since with online, you get one return per fee.

https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tips/marriage/should-you-and-your-spouse-file-taxes-jointly-or-separately/L7gyjnqyM?srsltid=AfmBOopGqCNexowW0pYgvsf7ycIkrx4VjO_63UXv6vSnfu3UEGQiKQTh

https://ttlc.intuit.com/turbotax-support/en-us/help-article/income/getting-married-mean-taxes/L2RgmagpE_US_en_US?uid=m69on7t0

https://ttlc.intuit.com/turbotax-support/en-us/help-article/taxation/married-filing-separately-community-property/L11CeLUMs_US_en_US?uid=m69ousyh

**Disclaimer: Every effort has been made to offer the most correct information possible. The poster disclaims any legal responsibility for the accuracy of the information that is contained in this post.**

aguile12Author

So it we are currently in court and the wife is upset and doesn't want to file jointly, can she just file her own taxes? My thought is that she just wanting all deductions for her since her income level is much less.

xmasbaby0

Employee

You have legal issues combined with tax issues. You may need legal advice in your situation----but your tax filing choices are as explained earlier. Joint or separate. If you file separate returns, the child-related credits are limited---no EIC, a lower income on which to get child tax credit, and no childcare credit.

AmeliesUncle

@aguile12 wrote:
Wanted to know who can claim children for 2024? My wife left our home a week before the year ended 2024 and has our children.

Either of you are eligible to claim the children. However, if file separately, you can not agree, and you both claim the children, she will 'win' because the kids lived with her more than they lived with you.

NCPERSON1Answer

@aguile12 as stated above, if the two of you can not agree on filing JOINT (since both have to sign the same tax return), then your only choice is filing SEPARATE.

as far as the children go, if you two can't agree on who is going to claim the children (since they lived with both of you for more than 6 months of the year), the IRS has tie-breaker rules.

rule #1 is who they lived with for a larger portion of the year. She wins since the children lived with her for 52 weeks and you for 50 weeks.

just so you have it, if rule #1 was a tie, then rule #2 is who earned the larger amount of money - that is who can claim the children.