"Werebat" wrote in message
news:XLHoe.34423$Fv.24424@lakeread01...


Beverly wrote:
On Sat, 04 Jun 2005 03:06:28 GMT, "Bob Whiteside"
wrote:


p.s. If you want to claim the child as your dependent for tax purposes
you
will have to get married. The recent federal tax court decision
limiting
child exemptions to non-married CP's, and not the child's majority
financial
support provider, works against your situation. See a qualified tax
professional on how to use the child exemption under the recent
decision.


As far as I can tell, the IRS has not adopted any new rules regarding
the exemptions for unmarried parents. Where might you have learned of
this change?

In any case, if the non-married couple lives together and the child
lives with them, the "member of household" test can be used to claim
the exemption rather than the "relationship" test.

We do, indeed, live together.

However, she earns considerably more than I do, so it makes sense to add
him to her tax stuff.

I already claim my first son as a dependent, since my ex earns nothing
and has no reason to want to claim him as a dependent.

I'm not a CPA, but I think I understand this stuff fairly well. There are
advantages to how you plan to file your taxes.

First, the child's parent with the highest income can prove they provide
more than half the child's support to meet the support test. This allows
your partner to pay lower taxes by claiming head of household status and the
child exemption.

Second, she can claim the standard deduction (or her itemized deductions)
and you can claim the single standard deduction (or your itemized
deductions). The combination of two single standard deductions is greater
than a married couple claiming a married standard deduction. This causes
your combined deductions to increase and reduce your taxes.

Third, there is no marriage penalty. Your combined incomes can exceed the
point where a married couple will move up into a higher tax bracket. By
separating your incomes you pay less tax overall at lower tax bracket rates.

BTW - I just don't understand how gays and lesbians are pressing so hard to
get the right to marriage. They will end up complaining about the higher
taxes they pay based on the right to marry because they will lose the three
advantages listed above instead of just living together.