Child support entitles exemption?

[Markw]

I have custody of my child and the mother is an attorney. She pays about 800.00 per month in court ordered child support and claims she is entitled to the tax exemption because this is "more than 50 percent of the monthly support for the child." We were never married and she says this is also a factor. I reside in Oregon and she is in California. She sees the child once a year for one day, so I strongly feel she has no case. Please advise.

 

[Grandma B]

Info from IRS site FAQ:

"Nothing can be deducted for the child support payments. Child support payments are neither deductible by the payer nor taxable income to the payee. You may qualify to claim the child as a dependent. There is a special rule for children of divorced or separated parents, which usually gives the dependency exemption to the custodial parent. Under the special rule, the parent who had custody of the child for the greater part of the year (the custodial parent) is generally treated as the parent who provided more than half of the child's support. This parent is usually allowed to claim the exemption for the child if the other exemption tests are met. However, the noncustodial parent may be treated as the parent who provided more than half of the child's support if certain conditions are met.

If the parents had never been married, the special rule does not apply and in order to claim an exemption for your dependent child you must meet the following five tests.

Member of household or relationship test.
Citizenship test.
Joint return test.
Gross income test.
Support test.
Please refer to Publication 501, Exemptions, Standard Deduction and Filing Information, and Publication 504, Divorced or Separated Individuals, for more information.
References:
Publication 501, Exemptions, Standard Deduction and Filing Information
Publication 504, Divorced or Separated Individuals
Tax Topic 354, Dependents"

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"What constitutes proper proof of more than 50% of support?
You must provide more than half of a person's total support during the calendar year to meet the support test. You determine this by comparing what you contributed with the entire amount of support the person received from all sources. There is a worksheet in Publication 501, Exemptions, Standard Deduction and Filing Information, that identifies the elements of support and can assist you in making this determination. Please refer to Publication 552, Record Keeping for Individuals, in regard to what constitutes proof.

References:
Publication 501, Exemptions, Standard Deduction and Filing Information
Publication 552, Record Keeping for Individuals
Tax Topic 354, Dependents"

Hope this helps you.