eic

[needtono]

What is the name of your state? pa i need to know if my boyfriend of 7 years can claim my son if he has taken care of him all year. He is not his birth father but he does pay for everything. I do not work I am a stay at home mother so I cannot claim him and his real father cannot claim him either because he lives with me. I have full custody of and he is under 18 and has a ss number. i worked at the beginning of the year but only made about 2500 all year so we would benefit more if he claimed him he made 17,000.

[TinkerBelleLuvr]

The short answer is "NO"

http://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc601.html

If you have a child, is your child a qualifying child?
To claim the EIC with a qualifying child, you must have one or more qualifying children. A qualifying child is a child who meets certain relationship, residency, and age requirements. To meet the relationship test, the child must be your:

Son, daughter, stepson, stepdaughter, or a descendant of any of them,
Brother, sister, stepbrother, stepsister, or a descendant of any of them, or
Eligible foster child (a child placed with you by an authorized placement agency).
An adopted child (or a child placed with you for adoption by an authorized placement agency) is treated as a biological child.

To meet the residency test, the child must have lived with you in the United States for more than half the tax year. Military personnel stationed outside the United States on extended active duty are considered to live in the United States during that period for EIC purposes.

To meet the age test, the child must be under age 19 at the end of the taxable year, or under age 24 at the end of the taxable year and a full–time student during any part of any 5 months during the taxable year, or any age if permanently and totally disabled. Refer to Chapter 2, Rules if you have a qualifying child, in Publication 596 for exceptions to the time your child must have lived with you.

[needtono]

my question may be a little complicated. i consider my son to be my boyfriends stepson but by law is he we are not married but we have been together for 7 years so could he claim him on his income taxes and could he claim me

[TinkerBelleLuvr]

Pennsylvania is not a state that recognizes common law marriage. Therefore, for your son to be able to be claimed, he would require the two of you to be MARRIED. By filing a joint return, you could then possibly qualify for EIC.

The IRS wants that little piece of paper for your BF to be a step-dad.

[TinkerBelleLuvr]

Now, if the BF wants to claim you, you could as a DEPENDENT. You cannot arbitrarily give away the dependency of your son. Is the father supporting him? If not, then, yes, the BF could claim the son, but he would NOT be eligible to claim the child tax credit or EIC.

[CourtClerk]

You may consider your question to be a little complicated, however, it is not at all complicated to us and/or to the IRS. Just because you consider your boyfriend to be something he's not, the IRS is very specific and so is the Government as to who qualifies as a husband and/or a son.

He's not your husband, he's not your son's step father. You can call him whatever you want in the land of Make Believe, but in the real world, he's simply your boyfriend... nothing else.

[abezon]

The only way your bf can claim your son on a 2007 tax return is if you two get married before 12/31/2007. For 2008, if you can get a court to "place" your son in your bf's home as a fosterchild, your bf could claim him as a fosterchild.

I believe your bf could claim you as a dependent for 2007, AND you could claim EIC for your son. The IRS EITC Assistant thinks it's OK for you to claim EIC as long as you are not a qualifying child of another taxpayer. Apparently, being a qualifying relative of another taxpayer is just fine. Go figure.

[LdiJ]

Originally Posted by abezon

The only way your bf can claim your son on a 2007 tax return is if you two get married before 12/31/2007. For 2008, if you can get a court to "place" your son in your bf's home as a fosterchild, your bf could claim him as a fosterchild.

I believe your bf could claim you as a dependent for 2007, AND you could claim EIC for your son. The IRS EITC Assistant thinks it's OK for you to claim EIC as long as you are not a qualifying child of another taxpayer. Apparently, being a qualifying relative of another taxpayer is just fine. Go figure.

That's interesting. I wonder if that's a glitch in the EITC Assistant? Everywhere else it simply discusses whether or not the parent is a dependent of someone else. Of course, just for the record, that would assume that mom has earned income and is able to file a tax return herself....and if she has earned income, she may not qualify as a dependent of her boyfriend.

The OP simply does NOT want her child placed with her boyfriend as a fosterchild.

[abezon]

It's an odd little glitch, I agree. The rules for people without a qualifying child talk about that person not being a dependent (QC or QR). The rules for people with a qualifying child do not say you can't be a dependent, they just say you can't be a QC. I was wondering if anyone had encountered this wrinkle.

Since the gf had about $2500 of wages, she could get about $850 EIC. The bf is barely into the 15% tax bracket, so claiming gf as a dependent saves him about $500. If they can only choose one option, EIC is probably better, but I think they can take advantage of both amounts. I'd have the gf buy the 'oops our programmers were wrong' insurance, though.

[LdiJ]

Originally Posted by abezon

It's an odd little glitch, I agree. The rules for people without a qualifying child talk about that person not being a dependent (QC or QR). The rules for people with a qualifying child do not say you can't be a dependent, they just say you can't be a QC. I was wondering if anyone had encountered this wrinkle.

Since the gf had about $2500 of wages, she could get about $850 EIC. The bf is barely into the 15% tax bracket, so claiming gf as a dependent saves him about $500. If they can only choose one option, EIC is probably better, but I think they can take advantage of both amounts. I'd have the gf buy the 'oops our programmers were wrong' insurance, though.

One of them may get rejected if its an "oops our programmers were wrong" scenario.

Now that I think about it, I do know of one case, a couple of years ago, where a grandmother claimed an adult grandchild and her children for one year, because they lived with her. She did not claim her grandchild as a qualifying child, because she was too old and wasn't in school. However, the next year the adult grandchild and her children had their own place.

Due to a miscommunication between grandma and her preparer, the dependents carried forword to the next tax year, and didn't get deleted, so they went through as grandma's dependents, and when mom went to file her own return, it got rejected.

Unfortunately, I can't remember if it was for 2004 or 2005, which could make a difference.

Anyway...its definitely interesting.

[tranquility]

This just in, FreeAdvice in the tax forum is correct.

[url]http://www.ustaxcourt.gov/InOpHistoric/HarrisCouvil.SUM.WPD.pdf[/url]

[TinkerBelleLuvr]

Fabulous Tranquility - I will forward this one to a few accoutants