Hey, I need help! I had a baby this year but my fiancé wants to be the one claiming her on taxes. When turbo tax asks if I had a baby this year do I still put yes?

Forum|Forum|2 years ago
January 15, 2024
2 replies
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He is the biological father of both my children. My older child has been claimed by me every year so he wants to claim the baby. (She is 5 months old)

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Best answer by rjs

Since you all live in the same home, either one of you can claim the baby as a dependent. You can decide between you who claims her, as long as you both agree. It doesn't matter who supports the baby, as long as she doesn't provide more than half of her own support. The one who is not claiming the baby does not enter any information about the baby on his or her tax return.

Who pays more than half the cost of keeping up the household determines which one of you can file as head of household. The other has to file as single (assuming that neither of you is legally married to someone else). The one who files as head of household has to claim one child as a dependent, but it doesn't matter whether it's the baby or the older child.

DoninGA

Employee

Do you both live in the same household as the child since the birth of the child?

If so, have you or the father provided over one-half of the child's support?

collegeboundgalAuthor

Yes we both live in the same home and have for a few years. We try to split costs down the middle so it’s mostly 50/50 on that.

rjs

Employee

When TurboTax asks if you had a baby this year, the answer doesn't go on your tax return. TurboTax is just trying to tailor its questions to your particular situation.

How you answer the questions, and how you handle the baby on your tax return, depends on your living situation. Do you, your fiancé, and the children all live together? If so, and your fiancé is going to claim the baby as a dependent, just leave the baby out of your own tax return altogether. In that case you can tell TurboTax that you did not have a baby, so it won't ask you any more questions about the baby.

If you and your fiancé do not live together, then how you handle the baby on your tax return depends on which of you is the custodial parent. The custodial parent of the baby is the one that the baby lived with for more than half the time that she was alive during the year. Which one of you is the custodial parent?