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taxes with split up parents?

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wishywashy

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? michigan (bay county)

my ex and were never married. we have a 4, soon to be 5 yr old little boy. my ex does not have visitation right now, and i have full custody. he does pay child support.

i am afraid he is going to try to claim my son on his taxes this year. i cannot claim him myself because i have not worked or had any earned income.

my parents usually claim him since we live with them.

if my parents claim him this year and so does his dad, can my parents get in trouble? or will his dad get in trouble?
 


TheGeekess

Keeper of the Kraken
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? michigan (bay county)

my ex and were never married. we have a 4, soon to be 5 yr old little boy. my ex does not have visitation right now, and i have full custody. he does pay child support.

i am afraid he is going to try to claim my son on his taxes this year. i cannot claim him myself because i have not worked or had any earned income.

my parents usually claim him since we live with them.

if my parents claim him this year and so does his dad, can my parents get in trouble? or will his dad get in trouble?
http://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc602.html
http://www.irs.gov/Individuals/Child-Tax-Credit
http://www.irs.gov/Individuals/Qualifying-Child-Rules
 

LdiJ

Senior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? michigan (bay county)

my ex and were never married. we have a 4, soon to be 5 yr old little boy. my ex does not have visitation right now, and i have full custody. he does pay child support.

i am afraid he is going to try to claim my son on his taxes this year. i cannot claim him myself because i have not worked or had any earned income.

my parents usually claim him since we live with them.

if my parents claim him this year and so does his dad, can my parents get in trouble? or will his dad get in trouble?
Most likely it would be dad that would get in trouble.

Under the tiebreaker rules if there is a duplicate claim and one of the claimants is a parent, normally the IRS would rule in favor of the parent. However, if the third party (ie grandparents) can demonstrate that the two parents combined do not provide more than 50% of the child's support, and therefore the grandparents provide more than 50% of the child's support, then the IRS would rule in favor of the grandparents.

Since the grandparents are providing housing, utilities, probably food etc., most likely they are providing more than 50% of the child's support.
 

LdiJ

Senior Member
So would it depend on how much child support dad is paying?
If mom is not providing any support, then it would depend on the amount of support dad is paying compared to the amount of support that the grandparents are providing. In all reality, unless dad is pretty high income, the odds are greatly in favor of the grandparents being the ones providing the majority of the child's support.
 

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