child tax exemption after divorce

[Anonymous]

I have been claiming our child on my tax return since he was born. my ex claimed the house and we ended up splitting the entire tax return. however now that we are separated, my ex wants to alternate years for the child tax exemption. the house has been sold and now the X has no write off. is that legal? I just don't want to raise any red flags years down the road

[Anonymous]

I am not a tax professional, however:

You need to read pub 596.

Who claims what depends on who is the custodial parent.

You may have the other parent claim a deduction or credit with a signed form from the parent who is normally entitled to the deduction or credit stating they are not claiming it. You attach thhis form to your return to substantiate your claim.

I believe you are considered divorced for tax purposes if you had a separation agreement as of 1 july.

You may have agreed in the separation as to who will do what here. Check your agreement.

[Anonymous]

Not a tax professional but it seems to be the norm to alternate who claims the child as a dependent each year. However, only the custodial parent can claim the childcare credit/deductions. The only way to claim it as the non custodial is to do what the pp above said.

[Anonymous]

My brother has 50/50 custody with his ex and in theircustodial agreement it specifies that they will alternate who can claim the deduction. He gets odd tax years, and she gets even tax years (or vice versa).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My brother has 50/50 custody with his ex and in their custodial agreement it specifies that they will alternate who can claim the deduction. He gets odd tax years, and she gets even tax years (or vice versa).

Sorry, who can claim the child as dependent is what I meant.

[Anonymous]

OP, my ex and I have 50/50 split custody, and we trade off the tax exemption and dependent claim every year. It's legit.

[Anonymous]

PP here. To clarify, in our situation, we really do have shared custodial responsibilities. If you're the custodial parent, I don't think he can claim the deduction.

[Anonymous]

My best friend has her child at her house for 90% of the year. Her XH does not pay regular child support, but frequently pays for acitivities or expenses for the child. She and her ex trade years for the tax deduction. they specified this in their divorce aggreement. They have been divorced for 5 or 6 years, and neither of them has been audited.

[Anonymous]

14:02, unless you make a serious amount of dough, neither of you are likely to be audited.

http://taxnerd.hubpages.com/hub/Am-I-at-Risk-for-an-IRS-Audit-Probably-Not

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thanks for the responses. We have joint custody, so I guess we're ok.

[Anonymous]

It's the custodial parent unless specified in your separation agreement that you will alternate or allow your X to claim. It's a big deal with the IRS that if the noncustodial parent claims, that parent needs the custodial parent to sign a specific IRS form. The IRA does not care about your separation agreement - period. Educate yourself by reading the IRS guideline on this topic. It's pretty straightforward. I don't think the IRS would audit if your X claimed and is noncustodial (not the same as joint). However, if you both claimed, your X would be found at fault unless you submit the IRS form.