If head of household pays all bills and 90% of everything else...

[LdiJ]

Your gf is not your wife and she has no business knowing what's in your tax return unless she needs a copy to file a child support order.

If your taxes are not complicated (one job, standard deduction, not a lot of investment income or self-employment income, etc.) then adjust your withholding so that you owe a little bit or get a very small refund next year.

I'd also suggest that you don't marry her or have any more kids with her, unless you like big legal bills.

That is not necessarily good advice in this instance. If he breaks up with the mother of his child there is no guarantee who is going to have primary custody and/or who will get to claim the child. In fact, it could be rotated every other year. If he follows that advice, and then during the course of the next year they break up and mom gets primary custody, with rotating tax years he could end up owing a big chunk.

 

[Taxing Matters]

That is not necessarily good advice in this instance. If he breaks up with the mother of his child there is no guarantee who is going to have primary custody and/or who will get to claim the child. In fact, it could be rotated every other year. If he follows that advice, and then during the course of the next year they break up and mom gets primary custody, with rotating tax years he could end up owing a big chunk.

The solution to that problem, as I tell my own clients, is to reassess and adjust their withholding when they have significant changes in their finances or life. You surely tell your clients the same thing, don't you?

 

[bcr229]

That is not necessarily good advice in this instance. If he breaks up with the mother of his child there is no guarantee who is going to have primary custody and/or who will get to claim the child. In fact, it could be rotated every other year. If he follows that advice, and then during the course of the next year they break up and mom gets primary custody, with rotating tax years he could end up owing a big chunk.

That's easy enough to handle with some planning, it just takes a little fiscal discipline to set the tax money aside and send it to the IRS when the bill comes due.

OP also hasn't indicated if he is legally dad, if there are existing court orders for custody and child support, if he is claiming the child on his taxes versus his gf claiming the child on hers each year, etc.

 

[LdiJ]

The solution to that problem, as I tell my own clients, is to reassess and adjust their withholding when they have significant changes in their finances or life. You surely tell your clients the same thing, don't you?

Of course I do, but many people are more comfortable with a consistent budget.

 

[Taxing Matters]

Of course I do, but many people are more comfortable with a consistent budget.

That may be, but when there are significant life changes, that may not be possible.

 

[LdiJ]

That may be, but when there are significant life changes, that may not be possible.

Of course its not possible if there are significant life changes, but rotating the claiming of a child is really not a significant life change. You can have a consistent budget and just have a bit of a windfall every other year as far as your tax refund is concerned.