Failure to File, Back Taxes, Divorce, and Claiming Dependents

[Phoe]

Looking for some insight into the following scenario:

A couple is getting divorced (not finalized). They've failed to file taxes for several years. Prior to the filing the divorce, the wife files her back taxes (married filing separately) and pays up everything that is owed. She claims all three dependents for all those years. The husband is currently having his wages garnished, and owes significant back taxes. He makes more than the wife most of those years.

If the husband files his back taxes and brings everything up to date, can he claim the dependents (all or some) for the years he makes more than her? What happens to the wife's taxes, who already claimed them?

Thanks!

 

[Just Blue]

Looking for some insight into the following scenario:

A couple is getting divorced (not finalized). They've failed to file taxes for several years. Prior to the filing the divorce, the wife files her back taxes (married filing separately) and pays up everything that is owed. She claims all three dependents for all those years. The husband is currently having his wages garnished, and owes significant back taxes. He makes more than the wife most of those years.

If the husband files his back taxes and brings everything up to date, can he claim the dependents (all or some) for the years he makes more than her? What happens to the wife's taxes, who already claimed them?

Thanks!

What state and who are you in this situation?

 

[Phoe]

PA.

Let's just say, I'm intimately involved.

 

[Just Blue]

PA.

Let's just say, I'm intimately involved.

Please ask one of the legally involved parties to join and we will happily answer their question(s). Thank You...

 

[Phoe]

Please ask one of the legally involved parties to join and we will happily answer their question(s). Thank You...

They have. It's been asked.

Thanks.

 

[Just Blue]

They have. It's been asked.

Thanks.

Then why are you rehashing a question that has already been addressed here? We really don't like to deal with third parties. Please, don't take it personally.

 

[Phoe]

Why? Because I don't know the answer, and I also don't see it rehashed via the searches I've done. So from my perspective, I'm not rehashing it at all.

You're assuming I'm a third party.

 

[Taxing Matters]

If the husband files his back taxes and brings everything up to date, can he claim the dependents (all or some) for the years he makes more than her? What happens to the wife's taxes, who already claimed them?

For the federal income tax return, the rule is easily stated and there is no need to know what state is involved nor who's who in this situation. For the years 2018 through 2025 there is no dependent exemption available, though there is still the child tax credit to claim, and to claim that credit you must be able to claim the kid(s) as your dependent. For tax years 2017 and prior there is the dependent exemption available, but only one person may claim any one person as their dependent. Where the parents are married and filing separately and both claim the dependent exemption for the same child, the tie breaker rule described on page 17 of Publication 501 for 2017 applies:

If the parents don't file a joint return together but both parents claim the child as a qualifying child, the IRS will treat the child as the qualifying child of the parent with whom the child lived for the longer period of time during the year. If the child lived with each parent for the same amount of time, the IRS will treat the child as the qualifying child of the parent who had the higher adjusted gross income (AGI) for the year.

So for the years in which they both lived together in the same home with the kids for the same number of days it comes down to which spouse had the higher AGI. If that's the husband and he files returns claiming the kids as dependents, he'd get credit for that. The IRS would then adjust the ex-wife's return to reverse the dependent exemptions she claimed, assuming the statute of limitations (SOL) has not expired.

 

[Phoe]

...So for the years in which they both lived together in the same home with the kids for the same number of days it comes down to which spouse had the higher AGI. If that's the husband and he files returns claiming the kids as dependents, he'd get credit for that. The IRS would then adjust the ex-wife's return to reverse the dependent exemptions she claimed, assuming the statute of limitations (SOL) has not expired.

Taxing Matters, thank you very much for that response.

 

[Phoe]

...assuming the statute of limitations (SOL) has not expired.

Do you know the statute of limitations off hand?

 

[Just Blue]

Why? Because I don't know the answer, and I also don't see it rehashed via the searches I've done. So from my perspective, I'm not rehashing it at all.

You're assuming I'm a third party.

They have. It's been asked.

Thanks.

PA.

Let's just say, I'm intimately involved.

 

[Eekamouse]

How so? Are you one of the parties? Most people don't speak of themselves in the third person. Odd, you doing that.

 

[Phoe]

 

[Phoe]

How so? Are you one of the parties? Most people don't speak of themselves in the third person. Odd, you doing that.

It may be odd, but it's an odd situation. I had no idea about this forum's (unwritten?) rule of not dealing with third parties when authoring the post.

The intention was to write in such a fashion as to not bias the response.

Instead, it seems to have created a minor dust up. Oh well.

 

[LdiJ]

It may be odd, but it's an odd situation. I had no idea about this forum's (unwritten?) rule of not dealing with third parties when authoring the post.

The intention was to write in such a fashion as to not bias the response.

Instead, it seems to have created a minor dust up. Oh well.

You really should stop worrying about biasing the response, particularly in a tax situation. Its pretty black and white.