Home Page link  

Dependents

  
Groups | Search | About
User Password
Register Now! Lost Password?

Taxes General Forum - Tax professionals meeting place and answers to queries. (Moderated)

 Post an article  get this group's latest topics as an RSS feed add this group's latest topics to your My MSN content add this group's latest topics to your My Yahoo content  add this group's latest topics to your Google content  YahooMyWeb Yahoo!  Google Google  Windows Live Favorites Windows Live  del.icio.us del.icio.us  digg digg  Add to Netscape Netscape
Subject Author Date
Dependents suzy.marsh 01-16-2007
| ---> Re: Dependents Drew Edmundson01-19-2007
| | `--> Re: Dependents Drew Edmundson01-21-2007
| `--> Re: Dependents Harlan Lunsford01-19-2007
`--> Re: Dependents Arthur Kamlet01-18-2007
Posted by suzy.marsh on January 16, 2007, 7:01 pm
Please log in for more thread options
 Ohio
My son lives with a girl who has 2 children. They have lived
together for 3 years. The Mom of the 2 children has all tax
rights, she has had no income other that sporadic child
support at $423.00 per month. My question is, can he claim
all of them as dependents and head of household?

Thanks for your help.

<< ======================================================= >>
<< The foregoing was not intended or written to be used, >>
<< nor can it used, for the purpose of avoiding penalties >>
<< that may be imposed upon the taxpayer. >>
<< >>
<< The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting posts >>
<< to this newsgroup as well as our anti-spamming policy >>
<< are at www.asktax.org. >>
<< Copyright (2006) - All rights reserved. >>
<< ======================================================= >>

Posted by rbristol on January 18, 2007, 3:22 am
Please log in for more thread options
 suzy.marsh@gmail.com wrote:

> Ohio
> My son lives with a girl who has 2 children. They have lived
> together for 3 years. The Mom of the 2 children has all tax
> rights, she has had no income other that sporadic child
> support at $423.00 per month. My question is, can he claim
> all of them as dependents and head of household?

No. You do not have a "qualifying child."

RB

<< ======================================================= >>
<< The foregoing was not intended or written to be used, >>
<< nor can it used, for the purpose of avoiding penalties >>
<< that may be imposed upon the taxpayer. >>
<< >>
<< The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting posts >>
<< to this newsgroup as well as our anti-spamming policy >>
<< are at www.asktax.org. >>
<< Copyright (2006) - All rights reserved. >>
<< ======================================================= >>

Posted by Phil Marti on January 18, 2007, 3:22 am
Please log in for more thread options

> My son lives with a girl who has 2 children. They have lived
> together for 3 years. The Mom of the 2 children has all tax
> rights, she has had no income other that sporadic child
> support at $423.00 per month. My question is, can he claim
> all of them as dependents and head of household?

The only possible tax benefit for him is the girlfriend as a
dependent "qualifying relative." This assumes that she has
no other income than the child support, which doesn't count
as gross income to her. He gets nothing for the children
and has no basis for an filing status other than Single. IRS
Publication 501. (The children are not "qualifying
children" for him.)

Not that a mother would want to meddle, but were they to
marry they could file a joint return, claim the children as
dependents, get the child tax credit and, perhaps, the
Earned Income Credit.

--
Phil Marti
Clarksburg, MD

<< ======================================================= >>
<< The foregoing was not intended or written to be used, >>
<< nor can it used, for the purpose of avoiding penalties >>
<< that may be imposed upon the taxpayer. >>
<< >>
<< The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting posts >>
<< to this newsgroup as well as our anti-spamming policy >>
<< are at www.asktax.org. >>
<< Copyright (2006) - All rights reserved. >>
<< ======================================================= >>

Posted by Drew Edmundson on January 19, 2007, 12:42 am
Please log in for more thread options

>> My son lives with a girl who has 2 children. They have lived
>> together for 3 years. The Mom of the 2 children has all tax
>> rights, she has had no income other that sporadic child
>> support at $423.00 per month. My question is, can he claim
>> all of them as dependents and head of household?

> The only possible tax benefit for him is the girlfriend as a
> dependent "qualifying relative." This assumes that she has
> no other income than the child support, which doesn't count
> as gross income to her. He gets nothing for the children
> and has no basis for an filing status other than Single. IRS
> Publication 501. (The children are not "qualifying
> children" for him.)

If he can claim his girlfriend as a dependent then she can't
claim her children (or anyone else) as dependents.
Therefore they wouldn't be qualifying children of anyone
(unless some other adult lives with them). So couldn't her
kids count as qualifying relatives for him?

From the description they appear to meet the test of living
with him the entire year. Obviously the living arrangement
cannot violate local law.

Obviously they have to meet the other tests - resident or
citizen of the US, kids not filing a joint return, etc.

--
Drew Edmundson, CPA
Cary, NC

<< ======================================================= >>
<< The foregoing was not intended or written to be used, >>
<< nor can it used, for the purpose of avoiding penalties >>
<< that may be imposed upon the taxpayer. >>
<< >>
<< The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting posts >>
<< to this newsgroup as well as our anti-spamming policy >>
<< are at www.asktax.org. >>
<< Copyright (2006) - All rights reserved. >>
<< ======================================================= >>

Posted by Phil Marti on January 19, 2007, 8:06 pm
Please log in for more thread options
>> The only possible tax benefit for him is the girlfriend as a
>> dependent "qualifying relative." This assumes that she has
>> no other income than the child support, which doesn't count
>> as gross income to her. He gets nothing for the children
>> and has no basis for an filing status other than Single. IRS
>> Publication 501. (The children are not "qualifying
>> children" for him.)

> If he can claim his girlfriend as a dependent then she can't
> claim her children (or anyone else) as dependents.
> Therefore they wouldn't be qualifying children of anyone
> (unless some other adult lives with them). So couldn't her
> kids count as qualifying relatives for him?

We had an extensive discussion of this last year because
several of us, I among the group, thought this couldn't
possibly be right. It is, sadly, and Congress hasn't
changed the law.

IIRC it basically boils down to the kids are her qualifying
children even if she has no income.

It was an interesting discussion, with lots of cites and all
angles considered. You might find it through Google.

--
Phil Marti
Clarksburg, MD

<< ======================================================= >>
<< The foregoing was not intended or written to be used, >>
<< nor can it used, for the purpose of avoiding penalties >>
<< that may be imposed upon the taxpayer. >>
<< >>
<< The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting posts >>
<< to this newsgroup as well as our anti-spamming policy >>
<< are at www.asktax.org. >>
<< Copyright (2006) - All rights reserved. >>
<< ======================================================= >>

Similar ThreadsPosted
SSD Payments to dependents September 24, 2008, 6:46 pm
Dependents Claimed on Two Returns April 19, 2007, 3:52 am
Trying to Focus--Gift Tax & Dependents January 22, 2008, 12:55 am
State tax drops when dependents not claimed. How/why? February 4, 2008, 4:30 pm

Contact Us | Privacy Policy
This site is not affiliated with Intuit - makers of Quickbooks and Quicken software
This site is not affiliated with Sage Software - makers of Peachtree accounting software
XML SitemapXML Sitemap