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If a pregnant mom can claim a child born on December 31, for the whole year, why can't I claim two foster children that lived with me 3 months of the year?

Forum|Forum|7 years ago
June 5, 2019
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I claimed two foster children that came in my home in the month of October. Someone else claimed them for the whole year, and I had to pay back money to the IRS. I only received about $400.00 but had to pay back $1500. That does not seem fair to me.

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Best answer by Critter

Fair or not those are the rules.

CritterAnswer

Employee

Fair or not those are the rules.

macuser_22

Employee

To claim a child, the child must have lived with you more than half the tax year. A child born (or died) during the year is considerd to have lived with you more than half the year if your home would have been the child's home had the child lived or was born sooner.

A foster child was not born during the tax year so only one tax payer can claim a foster child and that is the tax payer where the child lived more than half the tax year. If the foster child lived with a different taxpayer more than half the year then only that tax payer can claim the child reguardless of where the child lived the last 3 months of the year.

**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.**