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Can I claim my 2 year old son if the mother has custody but I pay $178 in child support a week?

Forum|Forum|7 years ago
June 6, 2019
7 replies
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She is okay with me filing for him. She already tried to claim him this year but was denied the child credit.

TurboTax Deluxe Online

Best answer by macuser_22

If you both lived with the child then you can decide who claims. If you cannot decide then the tie-breaking rules determine.

Qualifying Child of More Than One Person

Sometimes, a child meets the relationship, age, residency, support, and joint return tests to be a qualifying child of more than one person. Although the child is a qualifying child of each of these persons, only one person can actually treat the child as a qualifying child to take all of the following tax benefits (provided the person is eligible for each benefit).

1) The exemption for the child.
2) The child tax credit.
3) Head of household filing status.
4) The credit for child and dependent care expenses.
5) The exclusion from income for dependent care benefits.
6)The earned income credit.

The other person can’t take any of these benefits based on this qualifying child. In other words, you and the other person can’t agree to divide these benefits between you. The other person can’t take any of these tax benefits for a child unless he or she has a different qualifying child.

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

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

2- 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.

3- 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.

4- 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.

5- 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. If the child's parents file a joint return with each other, this rule can be applied by dividing the parents' combined AGI equally between the parents. See Example 6 .

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.

https://www.irs.gov/publications/p17/ch03.html#en_US_2016_publink1000204278

macuser_22

Employee

Did you live with the child more than half of 2016?

**Disclaimer: This post is for discussion purposes only and is NOT tax advice. The author takes no responsibility for the accuracy of any information in this post.**

J

jcmccaffetyAuthor

Yes a little over 6 months

J

jcmccaffetyAuthor

Also she said that Medicaid told her she would than have to include me on the application if I filed for him. That true?

macuser_22

Employee

You would have to ask Medicate that question - it is not a tax question.

**Disclaimer: This post is for discussion purposes only and is NOT tax advice. The author takes no responsibility for the accuracy of any information in this post.**

J

jcmccaffetyAuthor

So the rule of thumb with the original question is he has to live with me over 6 months?

macuser_22

Employee

Custody is not an issue if both parents lived with the child more than half the year (more then 183 nights) - both parents are custodial parents for tax purposes (tax custody has nothing to do with court ordered custody).

To claim a qualifying child, the child must live with you more than half the year unless you are divorced or separated parents that have not lived together at any time during the last 6 months of 2016, then special rules that determine custodial and noncustodial parent come into play that determines who can claim what.

When both parents have lived with the child more than 6 months then there is no "noncustodial" parent and the parents can choose which claims.

See “Children of divorced or separated parents or parents who live apart” in IRS Pub 17 for full information.

<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://www.irs.gov/publications/p17/ch03.html#en_US_2016_publink1000170897">https://www.irs.gov/publications/p17/ch03.html#en_US_2016_publink1000170897</a>

**Disclaimer: This post is for discussion purposes only and is NOT tax advice. The author takes no responsibility for the accuracy of any information in this post.**

macuser_22Answer

Employee

If you both lived with the child then you can decide who claims. If you cannot decide then the tie-breaking rules determine.

Qualifying Child of More Than One Person

Sometimes, a child meets the relationship, age, residency, support, and joint return tests to be a qualifying child of more than one person. Although the child is a qualifying child of each of these persons, only one person can actually treat the child as a qualifying child to take all of the following tax benefits (provided the person is eligible for each benefit).

1) The exemption for the child.
2) The child tax credit.
3) Head of household filing status.
4) The credit for child and dependent care expenses.
5) The exclusion from income for dependent care benefits.
6)The earned income credit.

The other person can’t take any of these benefits based on this qualifying child. In other words, you and the other person can’t agree to divide these benefits between you. The other person can’t take any of these tax benefits for a child unless he or she has a different qualifying child.

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

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

2- 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.

3- 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.

4- 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.

5- 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. If the child's parents file a joint return with each other, this rule can be applied by dividing the parents' combined AGI equally between the parents. See Example 6 .

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.

https://www.irs.gov/publications/p17/ch03.html#en_US_2016_publink1000204278

**Disclaimer: This post is for discussion purposes only and is NOT tax advice. The author takes no responsibility for the accuracy of any information in this post.**