Child Support and Taxes

http://www.thirdage.com/money/personal/tax/nolo5.html
Child Support and Taxes
From the Nolo.com Personal Tax Center

What you need to know about your taxes if you pay or receive child support.

Is child support taxable for the recipient, or deductible for the payer?
For federal income tax purposes, child support is tax-free to the recipient
but not deductible by the payer. On the other hand, an alimony payer may
deduct payments made pursuant to a court order or written agreement while a
recipient must report them as income.

In the past, when ex-spouses had more flexibility in negotiating the amount
of child support and alimony, many ex-spouses agreed to greater alimony and
less child support because of the resulting tax advantage to the payer.
Because all states determine the basic child support obligation by formula,
however, shifting the amounts of child support and alimony to take advantage
of tax deductions is increasingly difficult.

My ex-wife and I have one child. My wife has custody and I pay child
support. Can we both claim her as a dependent?
Divorced parents, unmarried parents and married parents who file separately
(this includes separated but not yet divorced parents) cannot both claim the
same children as tax exemptions. The IRS may audit both returns if it
discovers this error on one parent's return.

In the absence of a written agreement, the general IRS rule is that the
parent who has the children for the longest part of the year is entitled to
the exemption. (26 U.S.C. Section 152.) This usually means the mother
because she most often gets primary physical custody.

But if the father furnishes over 50% of the child's support, he is entitled
to the exemption. He must file with his tax return IRS Form 8332, Release of
Claim to Exemption for Child of Divorced or Separated Parents, signed by the
mother. If the father claims the exemption without filing this form, he may
have to prove that he furnished over 50% of the support for the kids if the
IRS questions his return.


--
----------------------------------------------------
The only thing necessary for the triumph
of evil is for good men to do nothing.

Edmond Burke

"Dusty" wrote in message
...
http://www.thirdage.com/money/personal/tax/nolo5.html
Child Support and Taxes
From the Nolo.com Personal Tax Center

What you need to know about your taxes if you pay or receive child
support.

Is child support taxable for the recipient, or deductible for the payer?
For federal income tax purposes, child support is tax-free to the
recipient
but not deductible by the payer. On the other hand, an alimony payer may
deduct payments made pursuant to a court order or written agreement while
a
recipient must report them as income.

In the past, when ex-spouses had more flexibility in negotiating the
amount
of child support and alimony, many ex-spouses agreed to greater alimony
and
less child support because of the resulting tax advantage to the payer.
Because all states determine the basic child support obligation by
formula,
however, shifting the amounts of child support and alimony to take
advantage
of tax deductions is increasingly difficult.

My ex-wife and I have one child. My wife has custody and I pay child
support. Can we both claim her as a dependent?
Divorced parents, unmarried parents and married parents who file
separately
(this includes separated but not yet divorced parents) cannot both claim
the
same children as tax exemptions. The IRS may audit both returns if it
discovers this error on one parent's return.

This answer is vague and not complete. Divorced and separated parents fall
under special rules allowing the custodial parent to claim the child as an
exemption unless there is a court order awarding the exemption to the NCP
without conditions for specified tax years. Exemptions for a child over the
age of 17 as an adult child attending school comes under different rules
which revert back to the IRS "support test" regardless of whether CS is paid
or not.


In the absence of a written agreement, the general IRS rule is that the
parent who has the children for the longest part of the year is entitled
to
the exemption. (26 U.S.C. Section 152.) This usually means the mother
because she most often gets primary physical custody.

This is just not accurate. In the absence of a written agreement, the
custodial parent gets the child exemption by default. There is no "length
of time" rule. And a major exception is never married parents are governed
by the IRS support test rules whether there is an agreement or not.


But if the father furnishes over 50% of the child's support, he is
entitled
to the exemption. He must file with his tax return IRS Form 8332, Release
of
Claim to Exemption for Child of Divorced or Separated Parents, signed by
the
mother. If the father claims the exemption without filing this form, he
may
have to prove that he furnished over 50% of the support for the kids if
the
IRS questions his return.

This is just not accurate. The exemption can be awarded to the NCP under
four circumstances: 1.) Court order awarding the exemption without
qualification attached to form 8332, 2.) the child is over 17 and the
support test is meet, 3.) the CP signs the form 8332, or 4.) the parents
were never married.

I'm not a CPA, but whoever wrote this stuff doesn't understand the tax laws.

Bob Whiteside wrote:
"Dusty" wrote in message
...

http://www.thirdage.com/money/personal/tax/nolo5.html
Child Support and Taxes
From the Nolo.com Personal Tax Center

What you need to know about your taxes if you pay or receive child

support.

Is child support taxable for the recipient, or deductible for the payer?
For federal income tax purposes, child support is tax-free to the

recipient

but not deductible by the payer. On the other hand, an alimony payer may
deduct payments made pursuant to a court order or written agreement while

a

recipient must report them as income.

In the past, when ex-spouses had more flexibility in negotiating the

amount

of child support and alimony, many ex-spouses agreed to greater alimony

and

less child support because of the resulting tax advantage to the payer.
Because all states determine the basic child support obligation by

formula,

however, shifting the amounts of child support and alimony to take

advantage

of tax deductions is increasingly difficult.

My ex-wife and I have one child. My wife has custody and I pay child
support. Can we both claim her as a dependent?
Divorced parents, unmarried parents and married parents who file

separately

(this includes separated but not yet divorced parents) cannot both claim

the

same children as tax exemptions. The IRS may audit both returns if it
discovers this error on one parent's return.


This answer is vague and not complete. Divorced and separated parents fall
under special rules allowing the custodial parent to claim the child as an
exemption unless there is a court order awarding the exemption to the NCP
without conditions for specified tax years. Exemptions for a child over the
age of 17 as an adult child attending school comes under different rules
which revert back to the IRS "support test" regardless of whether CS is paid
or not.


In the absence of a written agreement, the general IRS rule is that the
parent who has the children for the longest part of the year is entitled

to

the exemption. (26 U.S.C. Section 152.) This usually means the mother
because she most often gets primary physical custody.


This is just not accurate. In the absence of a written agreement, the
custodial parent gets the child exemption by default. There is no "length
of time" rule. And a major exception is never married parents are governed
by the IRS support test rules whether there is an agreement or not.


But if the father furnishes over 50% of the child's support, he is

entitled

to the exemption. He must file with his tax return IRS Form 8332, Release

of

Claim to Exemption for Child of Divorced or Separated Parents, signed by

the

mother. If the father claims the exemption without filing this form, he

may

have to prove that he furnished over 50% of the support for the kids if

the

IRS questions his return.


This is just not accurate. The exemption can be awarded to the NCP under
four circumstances: 1.) Court order awarding the exemption without
qualification attached to form 8332, 2.) the child is over 17 and the
support test is meet, 3.) the CP signs the form 8332, or 4.) the parents
were never married.

I'm not a CPA, but whoever wrote this stuff doesn't understand the tax laws.


Bob,

I'm the NCP, and was never married to CP. Are you saying I can just
start claiming the exemption?

I hear ya, Bob. Bear in mind that this is what is called "tax information"
by these folks. In my mind, they are very fast and loose with how they
"help" people with these and other issues. The worst of it is, that there
are lots of people out there in Cyber Land that take this sort of
"information" as gospel. And that's scary!

"marnospamtin_ridnospamdle tin_rid dle @yahoo.com" "marnospamnospam
wrote in message ...
Bob Whiteside wrote:
"Dusty" wrote in message
...

http://www.thirdage.com/money/personal/tax/nolo5.html
Child Support and Taxes
From the Nolo.com Personal Tax Center

What you need to know about your taxes if you pay or receive child

support.

Is child support taxable for the recipient, or deductible for the payer?
For federal income tax purposes, child support is tax-free to the

recipient

but not deductible by the payer. On the other hand, an alimony payer may
deduct payments made pursuant to a court order or written agreement while

a

recipient must report them as income.

In the past, when ex-spouses had more flexibility in negotiating the

amount

of child support and alimony, many ex-spouses agreed to greater alimony

and

less child support because of the resulting tax advantage to the payer.
Because all states determine the basic child support obligation by

formula,

however, shifting the amounts of child support and alimony to take

advantage

of tax deductions is increasingly difficult.

My ex-wife and I have one child. My wife has custody and I pay child
support. Can we both claim her as a dependent?
Divorced parents, unmarried parents and married parents who file

separately

(this includes separated but not yet divorced parents) cannot both claim

the

same children as tax exemptions. The IRS may audit both returns if it
discovers this error on one parent's return.


This answer is vague and not complete. Divorced and separated parents
fall
under special rules allowing the custodial parent to claim the child as
an
exemption unless there is a court order awarding the exemption to the NCP
without conditions for specified tax years. Exemptions for a child over
the
age of 17 as an adult child attending school comes under different rules
which revert back to the IRS "support test" regardless of whether CS is
paid
or not.


In the absence of a written agreement, the general IRS rule is that the
parent who has the children for the longest part of the year is entitled

to

the exemption. (26 U.S.C. Section 152.) This usually means the mother
because she most often gets primary physical custody.


This is just not accurate. In the absence of a written agreement, the
custodial parent gets the child exemption by default. There is no
"length
of time" rule. And a major exception is never married parents are
governed
by the IRS support test rules whether there is an agreement or not.


But if the father furnishes over 50% of the child's support, he is

entitled

to the exemption. He must file with his tax return IRS Form 8332, Release

of

Claim to Exemption for Child of Divorced or Separated Parents, signed by

the

mother. If the father claims the exemption without filing this form, he

may

have to prove that he furnished over 50% of the support for the kids if

the

IRS questions his return.


This is just not accurate. The exemption can be awarded to the NCP under
four circumstances: 1.) Court order awarding the exemption without
qualification attached to form 8332, 2.) the child is over 17 and the
support test is meet, 3.) the CP signs the form 8332, or 4.) the parents
were never married.

I'm not a CPA, but whoever wrote this stuff doesn't understand the tax
laws.


Bob,

I'm the NCP, and was never married to CP. Are you saying I can just start
claiming the exemption?

No, you need to look at the support test to determine who claims the child.
I believe you have to provably provide over 50% of the child's
support--financially, that is. We claim my husband's daughter because he
provides 85-90 percent of his daughter's support.

"marnospamtin_ridnospamdle tin_rid dle @yahoo.com" "marnospamnospam
wrote in message ...
Bob Whiteside wrote:
"Dusty" wrote in message
...

http://www.thirdage.com/money/personal/tax/nolo5.html
Child Support and Taxes
From the Nolo.com Personal Tax Center

What you need to know about your taxes if you pay or receive child

support.

Is child support taxable for the recipient, or deductible for the payer?
For federal income tax purposes, child support is tax-free to the

recipient

but not deductible by the payer. On the other hand, an alimony payer may
deduct payments made pursuant to a court order or written agreement
while

a

recipient must report them as income.

In the past, when ex-spouses had more flexibility in negotiating the

amount

of child support and alimony, many ex-spouses agreed to greater alimony

and

less child support because of the resulting tax advantage to the payer.
Because all states determine the basic child support obligation by

formula,

however, shifting the amounts of child support and alimony to take

advantage

of tax deductions is increasingly difficult.

My ex-wife and I have one child. My wife has custody and I pay child
support. Can we both claim her as a dependent?
Divorced parents, unmarried parents and married parents who file

separately

(this includes separated but not yet divorced parents) cannot both claim

the

same children as tax exemptions. The IRS may audit both returns if it
discovers this error on one parent's return.


This answer is vague and not complete. Divorced and separated parents
fall
under special rules allowing the custodial parent to claim the child as
an
exemption unless there is a court order awarding the exemption to the
NCP
without conditions for specified tax years. Exemptions for a child over
the
age of 17 as an adult child attending school comes under different rules
which revert back to the IRS "support test" regardless of whether CS is
paid
or not.


In the absence of a written agreement, the general IRS rule is that the
parent who has the children for the longest part of the year is entitled

to

the exemption. (26 U.S.C. Section 152.) This usually means the mother
because she most often gets primary physical custody.


This is just not accurate. In the absence of a written agreement, the
custodial parent gets the child exemption by default. There is no
"length
of time" rule. And a major exception is never married parents are
governed
by the IRS support test rules whether there is an agreement or not.


But if the father furnishes over 50% of the child's support, he is

entitled

to the exemption. He must file with his tax return IRS Form 8332,
Release

of

Claim to Exemption for Child of Divorced or Separated Parents, signed by

the

mother. If the father claims the exemption without filing this form, he

may

have to prove that he furnished over 50% of the support for the kids if

the

IRS questions his return.


This is just not accurate. The exemption can be awarded to the NCP
under
four circumstances: 1.) Court order awarding the exemption without
qualification attached to form 8332, 2.) the child is over 17 and the
support test is meet, 3.) the CP signs the form 8332, or 4.) the
parents
were never married.

I'm not a CPA, but whoever wrote this stuff doesn't understand the tax
laws.


Bob,

I'm the NCP, and was never married to CP. Are you saying I can just
start claiming the exemption?

Never married parents fall under the IRS "support test" rules to identify
which parent can claim the exemption. Expenses used to establish the
exemption use are different than those used to establish "head of household"
filing status. You can get the details off the www.irs.gov Web site.

Generally, the NCP will pay a higher amount of CS than the CP. Divorced and
separated parents fall under special rules that award the exemption to the
CP by default. Never married parents use the "support test" which basically
identifies which parent paid more than 50% of the child's expenses.

Overnight Stays. The parent with 50.0000001 percent of the overnight stays
is entitled to the deduction.
This is one more reason that my X-CU Next Tuesday witholds my children.

"Dusty" wrote in message
...
I hear ya, Bob. Bear in mind that this is what is called "tax
information"
by these folks. In my mind, they are very fast and loose with how they
"help" people with these and other issues. The worst of it is, that there
are lots of people out there in Cyber Land that take this sort of
"information" as gospel. And that's scary!

Hey guys, I asked this a while back in a taxes forum. I got shot down
on the notion, but maybe you could claim it, talk to your accountant (I
don't have one LOL).

J

According to a tax attorney I had a consult with, mom and I were not
married. She is the CP but chooses not to work (My that's surprising).
I pay more than 50% of support. SHe is 30K + in arrears in her student
loans. I have the deduction. There's an IRS form she has to sign-off
on. A copy of that form gets filed with the rest of the return. If she
doesn't wanna sign, find your nearest judge roy bean and have him order
it. Brin g a tax lawyer with you cause for some strange reason, judges
don't like to talk to us pre-se slobs

Good luck

On Fri, 06 May 2005 03:58:02 GMT, "marnospamtin_ridnospamdle"
wrote:

Bob Whiteside wrote:
"Dusty" wrote in message
...

http://www.thirdage.com/money/personal/tax/nolo5.html
Child Support and Taxes
From the Nolo.com Personal Tax Center

What you need to know about your taxes if you pay or receive child

support.

Is child support taxable for the recipient, or deductible for the payer?
For federal income tax purposes, child support is tax-free to the

recipient

but not deductible by the payer. On the other hand, an alimony payer may
deduct payments made pursuant to a court order or written agreement while

a

recipient must report them as income.

In the past, when ex-spouses had more flexibility in negotiating the

amount

of child support and alimony, many ex-spouses agreed to greater alimony

and

less child support because of the resulting tax advantage to the payer.
Because all states determine the basic child support obligation by

formula,

however, shifting the amounts of child support and alimony to take

advantage

of tax deductions is increasingly difficult.

My ex-wife and I have one child. My wife has custody and I pay child
support. Can we both claim her as a dependent?
Divorced parents, unmarried parents and married parents who file

separately

(this includes separated but not yet divorced parents) cannot both claim

the

same children as tax exemptions. The IRS may audit both returns if it
discovers this error on one parent's return.


This answer is vague and not complete. Divorced and separated parents fall
under special rules allowing the custodial parent to claim the child as an
exemption unless there is a court order awarding the exemption to the NCP
without conditions for specified tax years. Exemptions for a child over the
age of 17 as an adult child attending school comes under different rules
which revert back to the IRS "support test" regardless of whether CS is paid
or not.


In the absence of a written agreement, the general IRS rule is that the
parent who has the children for the longest part of the year is entitled

to

the exemption. (26 U.S.C. Section 152.) This usually means the mother
because she most often gets primary physical custody.


This is just not accurate. In the absence of a written agreement, the
custodial parent gets the child exemption by default. There is no "length
of time" rule. And a major exception is never married parents are governed
by the IRS support test rules whether there is an agreement or not.


But if the father furnishes over 50% of the child's support, he is

entitled

to the exemption. He must file with his tax return IRS Form 8332, Release

of

Claim to Exemption for Child of Divorced or Separated Parents, signed by

the

mother. If the father claims the exemption without filing this form, he

may

have to prove that he furnished over 50% of the support for the kids if

the

IRS questions his return.


This is just not accurate. The exemption can be awarded to the NCP under
four circumstances: 1.) Court order awarding the exemption without
qualification attached to form 8332, 2.) the child is over 17 and the
support test is meet, 3.) the CP signs the form 8332, or 4.) the parents
were never married.

I'm not a CPA, but whoever wrote this stuff doesn't understand the tax laws.


Bob,

I'm the NCP, and was never married to CP. Are you saying I can just
start claiming the exemption?

No, you cannot. As the IRS explains the special rules for divorced or
separated parents, it can simply be a matter of not having lived
together for the last 6 months of the year. A marriage need not have
occurred for this to be true. Furthermore, the IRS states that "These
special rules for divorced or separated parents also apply to parents
who never married."

The custodial parent gets the deductions unless a court order
specifies differently and/or the custodial parent releases the claim
to exemption by signing a form 8332. If no legal arrangement of
custody is established (as is often the case with never married
parents), whomever has physical custody of the child for more than 50%
of the year gets the deductions. This is without regard to who paid
for what as the IRS makes the ASSUMPTION that the one the child spends
the most time with has contributed the most financially. Hence, if
you get your girlfriend pregnant and she can barely support herself so
you send enough to pay for ALL of the child's expenses and then
some... SHE can still take the deduction. Not fair, but law.