Where the children are in mother's sole custody and reside with her, who has the right to claim the them when filing income tax?
Question Details:
Mother has custody of kids by divorce decree; kids physically reside with mother. Father pays child support and has visitation every other weekend. Mother is getting ready to file taxes and is planning to claim both children because they physically reside with her majority of year and expenses. Father is trying to claim one but this is not an agreement nor is it written in the decree that way. Who should be claiming children in this situation and who would courts award this right to in taken back to court?
It is my understanding that the rules regarding who has the right to claim a child and receive the tax credit have changed substantially for this year forward. The term "custodial parent" has always been used.
The custodial parent has the right to keep or sign away the child exemption for tax purposes. The IRS has enacted the "counting nights rule". The custodial parent, for 2009 and forward, is the one with whom the child resides the greater number of nights during the year. There is one exception to the counting nights rule. This exception addresses the problem that arises when a parent works a night shift. In these situations the custodial parent will be the one with whom the child spent the majority of days. For this purpose, child is treated as residing with the parent whose primary residence is registered with the child’s school.
As indicated above the right to claim the child(ren) can be assigned to the other parent should they wish to do so.
Read here then seek professional help: http://www.dadsdivorce.com/blog and type in IRS regulations.
