clear info on child as dependent with support worksheets

[taxea]

I found this information at: http://www.in.gov/judiciary/rules/child_support/#g9

It may help you to clarify some issues with child support, who takes the child as dependent, etc. It also has fill-in Word or PDF worksheets regarding figuring who paid more than 50% of support.

[dan doshan]

One thing that sort of puts a monkey wrench in this document is that it appears to have been written in 1989. The rules have changed since then with the new wonderful definition by the IRS of a qualifying child.

[taxea]

I know but a lot of it applies as do the worksheets

[S T]

Outdated Worksheets

While I among many use worksheets for calculating different aspects of "qualifications" for entries made on tax returns,

I would not want to be using a worksheet that is outdated back to 1989 with rules adopted Jan 2010, when rules and regulations have changed and this is 2011 Tax Returns that we are processing. Also might appear to be State specific (Stated as Indiana Rules of Court).

I would rely more on Federal first and then Individual State specific

Thanks for the reference, however, I would not be one to use this.

Sandy

[taxea]

The worksheets are generic to any year and are a good basis as a guide to determining who paid what support.
Did you look at them?

[Jesse]

Personally I would refer to the IRS publications, they actually have some good worksheets to rely on rather than "Indiana Rules of Court - Child Support Rules and Guidelines" From 1989. Another note - child support is considered as provided by both parents, not as support coming from the child. That's just my opinion.

Head of Household:

If you used payments you received under Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) or other public assistance programs to pay part of the cost of keeping up your home, you cannot count them as money you paid. However, you must include them in the total cost of keeping up your home to figure if you paid over half the cost.

http://www.irs.gov/publications/p17/ch02.html#en_US_2011_publink1000170809

Social security benefits. If a husband and wife each receive benefits that are paid by one check made out to both of them, half of the total paid is considered to be for the support of each spouse, unless they can show otherwise.

If a child receives social security benefits and uses them toward his or her own support, the benefits are considered as provided by the child.

Support provided by the state (welfare, food stamps, housing, etc.). Benefits provided by the state to a needy person generally are considered support provided by the state. However, payments based on the needs of the recipient will not be considered as used entirely for that person's support if it is shown that part of the payments were not used for that purpose.

Qualifying Child

http://www.irs.gov/publications/p17/ch03.html#en_US_2011_publink1000171012

[newbie]

http://www.thetaxbook.com/forums/showthread.php?t=18330&highlight=support+worksheet

About the 6th post down Doug has a link to a sweet support worksheet.