Can we claim my son on our taxes?

for the last 2 years we havent been able to claim my son on your taxes due to the fact that i was a saty at home mom and had no income and my husban(then fiance) wasnt his biological father . we was told that inorder for him to claim my son we had to get married or he had to adopt him. we have since got married in Dec and i was wondering if we would be able to claim him this year or if we waited to late in the year? also i was told you get a one time taxe exemption for the year you get married does anyone know about this?

Beth, believe it or not, you were given bad tax advice. While normally it is true that if the child is not the biological child of your fiancé, he can't claim him, the reason doesn't apply to you.

You see, starting in tax year 2005, a new dependent definition was created. It separated dependents into two categories, Qualifying Children (QC) and Qualifying Relatives (QR). Your son will be your fiancé’s QCs for 2006 since you were married on or before December 31, 2006. You will file as Married Filing Jointly and your son will be a bone fide QC for you and your new husband. You will be able to claim all benefits that any married couple will claim including the Child Tax Credit and Earned Income Credit. Note that you will not be able to claim the Child Care Credit (otherwise known as Daycare Credit) since you did not work.

However, the bad advice concerns tax years 2004 and 2005. Let's start with 2005. Since your son can NOT be your fiancé’s QC for 2005, he could be his QR. When there is no relationship between a taxpayer (TP) and a dependent, in order to be the TP's QR for 2005:

1) The dependent needs to live with the TP ALL YEAR.

2) The TP must pay for over 1/2 of the costs of the dependent.

3) The TP can NOT be a dependent of anyone else.

4) The dependent must earn less than $3,200.

5) The dependent must be a US citizen or resident.

6) The dependent can NOT be anyone else’s QC.

The first five are easy...but #6 trips people up. Most people assume that your son is your QC. However, in order for you to have any dependents at all, you can not be anyone else's dependent. As soon as you are someone else's dependent, you lose the ability to have dependents of your own. So, if you meet all of the above criteria to be your fiancé’s QR (which I believe you did for 2005), then you can NOT have any QC's of your own. If you son is not your QC (nor anyone else’s), he can be your fiancé’s QR. Unfortunately, QRs can not be used for EIC, Child Tax Credit, Child Care Credit, or to file Head of Household. All he gets is the exemption credit and other small stuff like being able to claim any medical costs he paid on his behalf. And, of course, he can also claim you as a dependent. So, if he filed for 2005 as SINGLE with just himself, he should amend it to file as SINGLE with himself, and with you and your son as dependents.

For 2004, the criteria are even easier. There was no QC or QR, so test #6 disappears. In other words, even if you earned too much to be your fiancé’s dependent (>$3,100) in 2004, your son could still be your fiancé’s dependent. If you earned less than $3,100, you, too, could be your fiancé’s dependent (if you meet all of the other tests). If he can claim your son, he can use him to file as Head of Household. Note that in 2005, he can't use your son to file Head of Household, but in 2004 he could. If he filed as Single in 2004, I would amend the return to file as HoH and include your son and you as dependents.

So in conclusion, if you earned nothing in 2004 and 2005, and you and your son lived with your fiancé the whole time and he paid over 1/2 of your costs, he should have filed as HoH in 2004 claiming both you and your son as dependents. In 2005, he should have filed as Single claiming you and your son as dependents. In 2006, you both file as Married Filing Jointly claiming your son as a dependent as for Child Tax Credit and EIC and any other credits.

Yes, a Married filing joint return is in order. Your son has now become his son for tax purposes, all benefits due the child can be claimed including the child tax credit.

You were correct having your fiance' not claim him last year. The IRS had changed the rules and, in situations like yours, many children ended up in limbo and not being claimed by anyone.

As you are now married, you can file joint and your son can also go on the return.

There is no such thing as a one time exemption in the year you get married.

Your son is dependent on your husband and should legally be able to claim him.

You haven't been hearing very accurate information. At least last year, the rules were pretty much the same as this year except some income limits, and if your son met the rules to be claimed as a dependent, your then fiance could probably have claimed him last year whether you were married or not.

There is no "one time exemption" for the year you get married.

You don't mention how old your son is, and that can make a difference on claiming him.

In any case, for 2006, if your son lived with you for over half the year, he's under 19 or else under 24 and a full-time student for at least 5 months of the year, and did not provide over half of his own support, then you can probably claim him. There are a few more requirements, but those are the main ones.

The differences to allow your then-fiance to claim him last year: your son would have had to live with him for the entire year, and can't have made over $3200 in 2005, and your fiance would have had to provide more than half of his support.

Yes. I claim my non related roommate who is out of work and financially depended on me. No, you didn't have to get married. The deduction would be for your fiance, who is the head of the household. I think he can also claim you too.

Your husband/Boyfriend can claim anyone who he provides more than half the dupport of. So I would suggest that you get the tax returns for the last two years and fax them over to me and I will amend the tax returns for you and do this years tax returns and get you guys the money that you should have receved because whoever you talked to was wrong and didn't know what they were talking about. GO to the website below

Actually, you can claim your son on your taxes. You could have claimed him last year too even though he is not your guys son. Because I claimed my friends daughter and she aint nothing to me it's legal if the person is living under your income, which my friend was. But, sure go ahead and claim him...there should not be any problem!

My daughter filed her tax this year as single. How can I refile/amened her taxes as a single/can be claim as a dependent on somelse taxes and claim her as a dependent on mines?

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