Discussion:Child Tax Credit for nondependent child
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Discussion Forum Index --> Tax Questions --> Child Tax Credit for nondependent child
| 31 January 2006 | |
| Divorced couple with child. Mother has custody, father has child two nights a week. Mother earns $40,000 and gets $8000 in child support. Father gets dependency deduction as per divorce agreement. Mother appears to qualify as Head of Household. 2005 had a change allowing the credit for children who are not dependent. It seems that if the child lives with the mom for over half the year she would get the $1000 credit. Am I reading this correctly? | |
| 31 January 2006 | |
| No, you are misinterpreting the law. Under Sec. 24(c), the qualifying child for child tax credit purposes must be a qualifying child as defined in Sec. 152(c) who is under the age of 17. In the scenario that you have presented, the child is a qualifying child of the Dad under Sec. 152(c) as a result of a Sec. 152(e) release.
However, the Sec. 152(e) release will not affect Mom’s eligibility for dependent care credits, EITC, or HOH. Yes, there are two classes of qualifying children (for child tax credit purposes) who need not be dependents: 1) A qualifying child of someone who is claimed as a dependent; and 2) A qualifying child who files a joint return with his spouse. | |
Taxisright (talk|edits) said: | 13 April 2007 |
| If father is the noncustodial parent with the right to claim children as dependants by divorce agreement, he takes with him the right to claim to child tax Credit. Mother being the custodial parent and children living with her for more than 6 months gets the right to file as head of household. Had she not earned $40000 she would have been able to take EITC. | |
Ridingwiththewind (talk|edits) said: | 18 June 2008 |
| How can Father get dependency deduction if he pays support? I have tried that as a father who makes support payments and have been denied! | |
| 18 June 2008 | |
| IRS Notice 2006-86 has this snip (caps added):
If §152(e) applies, a child may be treated as the qualifying child of two taxpayers. A noncustodial parent may claim the child as a qualifying child under §152(e) only for purposes of the child tax credit under §24 and the dependency deduction under §151. However, the noncustodial parent may NOT claim the child as a qualifying child under §152(e) in determining head of household filing status under §2(b), the earned income credit under §32, the child and dependent care credit under §21, or the exclusion from income for dependent care assistance under §129. ONLY the custodial parent (or other eligible taxpayer) may claim the child as a qualifying child for those purposes.
As noted in the above post - If the father is a non-cutodial parent, then the mother MUST release her right to claim the child as a dependent. The Courts have consistently said the divorce decree by itself does not control the right to claim an exemption under this situation. | |
