Janitor Bob Posted February 22, 2017 Report Share Posted February 22, 2017 Clients are unmarried parents of two children..all 4 people live in the same home all year. Can mother file single, claim dependency exemptions, CTC, and EIC...and Father file as HOH?...Or does father file single as well? Father makes much more than mother if that matters. the credits help her refund more than they would his. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janitor Bob Posted February 22, 2017 Author Report Share Posted February 22, 2017 I found the cite...father files as Single 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richcpaman Posted February 22, 2017 Report Share Posted February 22, 2017 Did the cite continue to state: The earner with the highest AGI is supposed to claim all the children? Thereby limiting CTC, EITC, and the various other credits that could be claimed by the lower earner? Rich 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tax Prep by Deb Posted February 22, 2017 Report Share Posted February 22, 2017 3 hours ago, Richcpaman said: Did the cite continue to state: The earner with the highest AGI is supposed to claim all the children? Thereby limiting CTC, EITC, and the various other credits that could be claimed by the lower earner? Rich But doesn't this apply in the case that they can't agree and they both claim the same child? Can you direct me to something that indicates AGI is the determining factor if they agree? I have a couple that have three children, and usually the one with the highest AGI claims HH and claims 2 and the other files single and claims 1. The tie breaker rules, I thought would be applied in case of no agreement. I know we aren't suppose to rely 100% on pubs, however there is a discussion of a situation involving daughter and mother, daughter has three children, and it shows how the dependents can be split if the daughter agrees, so why wouldn't this be possible in the case of unmarried couples with more than one child? The example of an unmarried couple shows that they can decide between them, but it only addresses one child. Clarification on this would be greatly appreciated. Example 11—Unmarried parents. You, your 5-year-old son, and your son's father lived together all year. You and your son's father aren't married. Your son is a qualifying child of both you and his father because he meets the relationship, age, residency, and joint return tests for both you and his father. Your earned income and AGI are $12,000, and your son's father's earned income and AGI are $14,000. Neither of you had any other in-come. Your son's father agrees to let you treat the child as a qualifying child. This means, if your son's father doesn't claim your son as a qualifying child for the EIC or any of the other tax benefits listed earlier, you can claim him as a qualifying child for the EIC and any of Example 4—Qualifying children split between two persons. The facts are the same as in Example 1 except that you also have two other young children who are qualifying children of both you and your mother. Only one of you can claim each child. However, if your mother's AGI is higher than yours, you can allow your mother to claim one or more of the children. For example, if you claim one child, your mother can claim the other two. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pacun Posted February 23, 2017 Report Share Posted February 23, 2017 On the original question you have these possible choices. Mother files as single without any of the children. Mother files as single with one child Mother files as single with two children Father files as single without any of the children Father files as HH with one child (provide he kept up the home with was the main home for at least 6 months for the child). If not HH, then single with one dependent. Father files as HH with two children (provide he kept up the home with was the main home for at least 6 months for the child). If not HH, then single with one dependent. Since the original poster didn't say how much the mother made... this is one more possible filing option provided they lived together all tax year: If mother made less than $4,050 and husband supported her more than 50%, she has all the options above and one more: She can file single without claiming her exemption. Father can claim two children and his girlfriend as "other". If he didn't kept up the home which was the main home of at least ONE of his children, he will file single with 3 dependents. If he kept up the home, he will be HH with three dependents. Have you noticed that support for the children has nothing to do with all of the above... Let me give you an example... You made $30K and you have a house that you keep up all year. Your children and your ex-wife are with el Capo in Mexico enjoying life and the cost of living is a million dollars month just for your children. On June 17th, el capo is arrested and your children are brought to your home on June 29th and they stay with you the rest of the year. Your children stay with you more than 6 months in a house you kept up. You will be HH. HH status will be kept true even if your children have a $100 dinner for each child with el capo relatives each night at a local restaurant for all the days they will live with you. Comments???? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.