My son divorced in 2006 and has a child under 2 years of age?

He lived with his wife and child for more than 6 months of 2006, and contributed more than one half of the child%26#039;s expenses for the year. His ex wife has remarried and wants to claim the Earned income credit, child tax credit, and their daughter as a dependent. Can my son claim the child and if so what happens if they both claim the child

My son divorced in 2006 and has a child under 2 years of age?

When 2 people claim the same child on a tax return, It raises a flag with the IRS. They will first send a letter advising that the same SSN was used twice and advise that the person who was not entitled to claim the child needs to file an amended return. Then if no one corrects the return the IRS will request from both parties to submit proof of entitlement to claim the child. The IRS will then make a detemination on who is entitled to claim the child and it the person who is seen as the one NOT allowed to claim the child will owe back any refund they received in reference to the child along with penalties and interest and their Tax return will be flagged for review for up to the next 10 years

For more clarification call the Internal Revenue Service at

1-800-829-1040

My son divorced in 2006 and has a child under 2 years of age?

He should contact someone who does taxes for a living. H%26amp;R Block is a good start. You don%26#039;t want to get the wrong answer here and risk an audit or worse.

My son divorced in 2006 and has a child under 2 years of age?

The custodial parent gets the exemption and the various credits under the IRS rules. The custodial parent is defined as the parent who had custody for the larger part of the year. Since they divorced in 2006, the parent that the child spent the most time with AFTER the divorce is the custodial parent as far as the IRS is concerned.

The custodial parent would have to voluntarily give up the exemption for the non-custodial parent to get it.

Sometimes the divorce decree might give the exemption to the non-custodial parent BUT if the decree does not meet VERY specific guidelines mandated by Federal law, the IRS will ignore the decree. They can do this since Federal law trumps state laws and state court orders.

Rob is on the mark as to how the IRS handles the situation when 2 taxpayers claim the same dependent so I won%26#039;t repeat that here.

My son divorced in 2006 and has a child under 2 years of age?

Is she the custodial parent? If so, then she has the first claim on claiming the child as a dependent and for all the associated credits, unless something in the divorce decree or other legal decrees gives him the right to claim the child.

If he does claim her and his ex does also, they%26#039;ll both be asked to prove that they are the one entitled to claim the child. By IRS rules, his claim will be disallowed and he%26#039;ll have to pay back whatever extra taxes he owes, plus interest and possible penalties.