What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?
The ruling was in Missouri (I reside in Indiana now, but any legal issue concerning the kids is under Missouri jurisdiction).
The IRS recently reviewed the fact that myself and the mother of my children claimed my daughter on our 2009 tax return.
Here is the court history:
We divorced in 2006. In the divorce I retained full legal & physical custody. We agreed to share the tax claim on our children in the following manner: She would claim our son and I would claim our daughter.
The court document reads simply: The petitioner shall claim daughter on 2005 and future tax returns (paraphrased). Likewise, it said the same for our son for my ex-wife.
In 2007, I moved to Indiana for employment. This caused a custody dispute. The result was that we now have joint legal & physical custody, but they maintain their residency in Missouri and therefore their mother is now the custodial parent.
On the 2007 tax returns she claimed my daughter and I called the IRS to resolve the issue. I explained exactly what I had previous said. The lady asked me if the custody dispute had revisited the issue in any way or if the original document had any conditions attached to the claim. I replied no to both issues.
She told me to photocopy the relevant pages and the signature page to send in with my returns.
About 8 weeks later I received my tax return showing that I had received the tax credit.
In 2008 I repeated the previous procedure and was granted the claim again.
In 2009, again, I did the same and was granted the claim.
In the fall of 2010, the IRS send me a letter asking for all court documents & any relevant documents regarding the claims. Apparently we had both been claiming.
I mailed the documents and called the IRS. The IRS could not give me any information (since they had not received/reviewed the documents yet), but I told them what I had been doing and how this has been going on for 2007, 2008 and 2009. I asked if I should expect an investigation into the other two years, but they could not confirm.
Yesterday I received the judgment of the IRS.
Their reply:
"Your last court statement states joint or shared custody and this is subject to the tie breaker rules in which first it is relationship, residence and income. We are looking at the residence portion at this point. For your school records or medical records please show as much residence as possible for the year of 2009 for the child by the attendance dates.
We are still disallowing the child tax credit and dependent exemptions because we need more documentation.
To qualify for your dependent exemptions and child tax credit we need documentation that you showed residence and support for your qualifying dependents for more than six months but up to a year in 2009. We need school records, medical records, or immunization records that show your name, address along with the child's name and dates attended for the year of 2009. Also, we need a complete mortgage/lease agreement that shows yoru overall support with the payment amount."
They are now asking for the $1987.00 that was given to me in my tax refund check.
Do I have a case in which I should obtain a lawyer to speak on my behave or did the custody dispute change the original ruling (by default) and have been misled by the IRS personnel I spoke to in previous years?
Thank you for your time reading my situation and am thankful to any advice.What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?
The ruling was in Missouri (I reside in Indiana now, but any legal issue concerning the kids is under Missouri jurisdiction).
The IRS recently reviewed the fact that myself and the mother of my children claimed my daughter on our 2009 tax return.
Here is the court history:
We divorced in 2006. In the divorce I retained full legal & physical custody. We agreed to share the tax claim on our children in the following manner: She would claim our son and I would claim our daughter.
The court document reads simply: The petitioner shall claim daughter on 2005 and future tax returns (paraphrased). Likewise, it said the same for our son for my ex-wife.
In 2007, I moved to Indiana for employment. This caused a custody dispute. The result was that we now have joint legal & physical custody, but they maintain their residency in Missouri and therefore their mother is now the custodial parent.
On the 2007 tax returns she claimed my daughter and I called the IRS to resolve the issue. I explained exactly what I had previous said. The lady asked me if the custody dispute had revisited the issue in any way or if the original document had any conditions attached to the claim. I replied no to both issues.
She told me to photocopy the relevant pages and the signature page to send in with my returns.
About 8 weeks later I received my tax return showing that I had received the tax credit.
In 2008 I repeated the previous procedure and was granted the claim again.
In 2009, again, I did the same and was granted the claim.
In the fall of 2010, the IRS send me a letter asking for all court documents & any relevant documents regarding the claims. Apparently we had both been claiming.
I mailed the documents and called the IRS. The IRS could not give me any information (since they had not received/reviewed the documents yet), but I told them what I had been doing and how this has been going on for 2007, 2008 and 2009. I asked if I should expect an investigation into the other two years, but they could not confirm.
Yesterday I received the judgment of the IRS.
Their reply:
"Your last court statement states joint or shared custody and this is subject to the tie breaker rules in which first it is relationship, residence and income. We are looking at the residence portion at this point. For your school records or medical records please show as much residence as possible for the year of 2009 for the child by the attendance dates.
We are still disallowing the child tax credit and dependent exemptions because we need more documentation.
To qualify for your dependent exemptions and child tax credit we need documentation that you showed residence and support for your qualifying dependents for more than six months but up to a year in 2009. We need school records, medical records, or immunization records that show your name, address along with the child's name and dates attended for the year of 2009. Also, we need a complete mortgage/lease agreement that shows yoru overall support with the payment amount."
They are now asking for the $1987.00 that was given to me in my tax refund check.
Do I have a case in which I should obtain a lawyer to speak on my behave or did the custody dispute change the original ruling (by default) and have been misled by the IRS personnel I spoke to in previous years?
Thank you for your time reading my situation and am thankful to any advice.What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?
