Who gets the deduction?

[EEck]

Ohio

If a couple that were never married have a child and the custody order and child support order does not state who gets to claim the child for tax purposes isn't there a federal law that states that if the non custodial parent pays X amount of dollars per year
(I believe the amount is 600.00) that person is entitled to the deduction?

All advice is greatly appreciated.

In the case of parents who never married, the parent who paid over half of the child’s support during the tax year is entitled to the dependency exemption. Remember, the fair value of housing and food is attributed to the parent who supplied the housing and food.

For more details, see IRS Publication 17, Your Federal Income Tax, which you can download at the IRS site at: [url]http://www.irs.ustreas.gov/forms_pubs/index.html[/url]

If you are in good terms with the CP, why not ask them is you both can take alternate years to claim the child? This would only be fair. It is true that if the parents were never married, the rules does not apply for the CP to claim the child. So if both parent's claim the child on a given tax year, the IRS will notify you of the duplicate SS#. Thats about all I know, as far as being audited, haven't gotten there yet. And if you are audited, you have to show that you support the child more than 50% financially. Hope that helps, I'm in the same boat.

[TNBSMommy]

If you speak to the CP about claiming the children, make sure you have them sign the form that is required for an NCP to claim them, I believe the form number is 8332.My ex and I(we had joint custody at the time) made a verbal "agreement" that I would claim the kids in 99. I received a packet this past year stating they were double claimed and that someone owed them money. I sent all my information they asked for in to them. And received a letter saying no changes would be made to my taxes. So be careful just asking. My ex agreed not to claim them, then turned around and did so anyway....
Good luck.

I just want to be prepared when we get asked from the IRS to show our proof. What did they request from you? So did your ex end up paying back to the IRS? Does the CP have to sign the form 8832 every year of only once and show what alternate year it is you will be claiming. This info will be very helpful as I will forward to others who have the same questions. If you can reply here or e-mail more info at [email]jenson101sj@yahoo.com[/email], I would really appreciate your information. Thanks.