Question

Taking Deduction for Adult Child Outside of Divorce Decree?

Forum|Forum|7 years ago
June 4, 2019
1 reply
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Divorced 10+ years. Have 2 adult children (22 & 19 years old) both away in college. I provide ~90% of their total financial support, yet my divorce decree grants each parent be allowed to claim a tax deduction for one child. Former spouse will not sign paperwork to give me the deductions for both kids, despite the fact I clearly provide the majority of the financial support for both children. My house is their residence when they are home from college too.

Do I have any options whereby I can claim both kids on my tax return? Seems unfair one parent can claim a tax deduction for an adult child, when in reality they provide almost no financial support to the child they are claiming on the tax return. Note: there is no spousal support being paid, and child support is no longer owed. Or, is it shame on me for not realizing this situation continued past the kids' high school graduation?

TurboTax Deluxe Online

A

AmyT

Employee

You do have the option to claim both of your children on a paper-filed return and let the IRS make the determination.

The IRS will eventually contact both of you to figure out who gets to claim the dependent. The losing party will then be liable for any additional taxes, penalties, and/or interest as a result of the false claim. Because the IRS will need to make a determination as to who can legitimately claim the child as a dependent (after they have contacted both of you and have received a response from both of you), this process can take a considerable amount of time.

T

Tim-in-HoustonAuthor

Thanks Amy. To clarify:

Did my former spouse actually make a "false claim"? The divorce decree stipulates she can claim 1 child on her tax return.

My contention is that my former spouse is not providing the majority of the support (not even close) for that child for the 2016 tax year. Does the divorce decree trump the fact I provide the majority of the support?