Unmarried taxpeyers - who can claim chiild?

[ttbtaxes]

Boyfriend/girlfriend never married and had a child. They lived apart for the entire 2018 tax year. Boyfriend's income is more than girlfriend. Their order of custody specifies they have joint legal custody and lays out the days of the week when the child goes where. It is silent about who can claim the child for tax purposes.

When you add up the nights the child stayed overnight based on the court prescribed schedule, it is ~200 nights with mom and 165 nights with dad.

The question is who can claim the child as a dependent and who is HOH.

When defining a dependent, Section 152(c) (1)(B) provides, "who has the same principal abode as the taxpayer for more than one-half of such taxable year." Reg. 1.152-4(d)(1) provides,"In general. The custodial parent is the parent with whom the child resides for the greater number of nights during the calendar year, and the noncustodial parent is the parent who is not the custodial parent.

Am I correct in concluding the child is the dependent of the girlfriend?

[kathyc2]

Since child lived with her over half year, she is entitled to the CTC (dependency) but can release to him if she desires.

Only she is entitled to HOH based on the child. Of course, she would need to meet all the other criteria, paying over 1/2 cost of maintaining home, etc. She is also the only one who could use child for EIC as that also has a half year rule.

[TaxGuyBill]

Yes, the mom can claim the child as a dependent and for Head of Household (assuming she paid for over 50% of keeping up a home). The FIRST thing to always look at is "who did the child live with for over 1/2 of the year"?

*IF* she chooses to give the exemption and Child Tax Credit to the ex-boyfriend via Form 8332, she would still keep Head of Household, EIC, and Dependent Care Credit.