Family Situation

[Dusty2004]

Qualifying relative

Could be a qualifying relative for a dependent exemption, however, must be a qualifying child (not relative) for HofH or EIC.

I believe, to be a qualifying relative, you cannot be a qualifying child of anyone. Since the child is a qualifying child of the mother that child cannot be anyones qualifying relative.

Dusty

[dtlee]

I have a similar situation- I read if the mother has to file and is eligible to claim the child then no one else can. Is that correct?

That is one way of stating the rule, but I tend to favor the more general rule is that if any taxpayer is able to claim the child as a Qualifying Child, then no one can claim that child as a Qualfiying Relative.

Another related rule related to Qualifying Children is that to claim a Qualifying Child as a dependent, the taxpayer must either be a parent eligible to claim the child as a Qualifying Child (subject to the tiebreaker rules) or there can be no parents who are eligible to claim the child as a Qualifying Child. If any parents are eligible to claim the child as a Qualifying Child and none does, the taxpayer must have a higher AGI than any parent eligible to so claim the child as a Qualifying Child (use average AGI of joint-filing parents).

I may be reading too far into your post, but it is possiblve that if the mother can claim the child and she is not living with the child's father that Form 8332 (or equivalent) can be used to allow the father to claim the child. Obviously if the parents are living together and the child is the Qualifying Child of either, then either can claim the child subject to the tie-breaker rules.

[FEDUKE404]

Flashbacks

Claim her child as a niece?? - how very creative!!

This reminds me of the not-too-long-ago days when I worked with a "major" firm.

It was amazing to see what went on. "Mr" and "Mrs" would go to separate preparers, both claim unmarried or whatever with the mandatory two dependents, were well-versed in the new rules for formerly foster children, and the six-month residency rules (seven months was quite common).....and would walk out the door both filing head of household with huge refund checks promised (RALS, of course!).

Got a house full of kids? - Since mom could only "use" two (at the time) to max out, Soc Sec cards would get passed around like crazy. There always is a fuzzy area between nephews/cousins/love children, correct?

The office manager would have to fill you in on the details when numerous returns later encountered "problems" and the "Where's my money?!?" phone calls began.

Fortunately my client base now essentially insulates me from such utter craziness.

FE

[erchess]

Thank You

Thank you to all who posted to this thread. I cannot help this guy and have told him to pay up. I have also made an offer to do his return the right way the first time this year. The thing is he and his g/f split household expenses 50-50 so it seemed to them and to me fair if he carried one child. In the future I will get out the chart of dependency rules more often because I have learned that on this issue I am easily swayed by what I would like. That way lies trouble for the client and for me.

[MAJ]

Hoh

I do believe if HE was the "EX" and they were no longer married but lived in the same house they could not both claim HOH. One per household.

Also, I do believe there has to be some type of custodial tie or everone and their brother would be doing this. Once you starte answering teh DD questions you'll have to explain why the last names are different, whey the parents are NOT claiming the child.

This is a ball of fire waiting to explode!! She has to claim her children. She cannot opt to not claim a child just to get a larger (FREE) refund. If that's the case why can't I just exclude a bunch of income so I can be eligible too!

I had a client last year who {really!) cleaned houses. I made her prove the bank deposits and everything. Itemized out all income & expenses.

She was denied the $4k she was expecting. We're still fighting it. She was entitled (the best that I can tell) and was denied.

Then there's always those collecting SSDI and there's nothing wrong with them - but they seem to get every break in the world!! Go figure!!

Do it right - or RUN from it... That's my suggestion.

[dtlee]

Thank you to all who posted to this thread. I cannot help this guy and have told him to pay up. I have also made an offer to do his return the right way the first time this year. The thing is he and his g/f split household expenses 50-50 so it seemed to them and to me fair if he carried one child. In the future I will get out the chart of dependency rules more often because I have learned that on this issue I am easily swayed by what I would like. That way lies trouble for the client and for me.

I like the chart in TTB, but have issues with the TaxTools chart. If you want another way of looking at this, I have maintained a chart of these rules for several years and have the latest one here:

http://nytaxexperts.org/Documents/QCQRRules2010.pdf

It is 8 pages long, but the first two are a two-page summary of the rules and the last page is a comparison chart of the five Qualifying Child definitions.

[Lion]

Thank you

Wow! Very thorough. Thank you very much for sharing your work, Doug.