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Posted by bono9763@yahoo.com on February 13, 2007, 5:02 pm
Please log in for more thread options > thomas...@gmail.com wrote:
>> Here's the deal. My son's mother is on disability and does
>> not work or produce an income (although I do pay her child
>> support). Her boyfriend lives with her, in her house, and
>> he does work. He has no legal rights to my son at all. My
>> son lives with me 3 days a week. She told me that her
>> boyfriend claimed my son on his tax return for 2006. All
>> the info I can find at the IRS website says that since 2005,
>> a person cannot claim a child that is not their own, or you
>> have to be a blood relative, which he is not. I also found
>> info supporting that he cannot file as head of household
>> (posted below). My question is, how in the world could
>> someone legally claim a child that is not their own? If
>> they filed joinly would that make a difference? This
>> doesn't seem right, but apparently whoever did their taxes
>> for them let them do it. Should I call the IRS and report
>> it? Please help!
> >> Info about Head of Household Status
> >> Take the situation of an unmarried man living with his
>> unemployed girlfriend and her young child. The family of
>> three lives solely on his earned income.
> >> In 2004, the man could claim his girlfriend and her
child >> both as his dependents and file his return as a
head of >> household, resulting in lower taxes. But for
2005, he may >> not use the child to claim head-of-
household status because >> he and the child are not blood
related.
> >> Formerly, the primary test was the support test. The
the >> man was eligible to file as head-of-household because
he >> supported a child living in his household.
> >> Now the primary test is the relationship test, and he
would >> fail that because he and the child are not related.
And >> since the mother is not employed, and therefore
does not >> file income tax returns, no one can claim this
child as a >> dependent -- not even the person who provides
100 percent of >> the child's financial support.
> The first of the five rules for claiming a dependent is:
> RELATIVE or MEMBER OF THE HOUSEHOLD FOR ALL YEAR.
> I don't remember that being repealed.
> Therefore, an unrelated person can be claimed as a dependent
> if the other 4 rules are met.
But with the new rules for Uniform Definition of Child for
tax year 2005+, if an unrelated child is a qualifying child
of another person, you can't claim him as your dependent,
even if he meets all 5 of the requirements.
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<< to this newsgroup as well as our anti-spamming policy >>
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