income tax claims

[msfabulous89]

my ex claimed our son on his taxes this year. he's had him a total of about 1.5 months out of the year by himself last year, and i've had my son 5.5months out of the year, the rest of the year, we were together. according to the IRS website, he had no right to claim him, i did, but my taxes just got denied. i know i need to appeal it, but how do i appeal it, what kind of documentation is needed, and what are my next steps? i can't ever seem to get through to the IRS to ask these questions.

[MixedBag]

you're gonna have to file using hard copies if you want to claim him.
 
When you two were together, did you both work?
 
 

[gemini3]

Because you two lived together for 5 months, he technically had the child for more than 1/2 of the year.  So the residency test was met.  The next test, if both parents had the child 1/2 the year, is adjusted gross income - in which case, the person with the higher gross income would claim the child(ren).
 
If your CO has not been filed yet, you need to address this in it for future years so that there is no question.

[msfabulous89]

i thought it said who had him the longest out of the year of both parents had him over 6 months?

[gemini3]

The way I understand it (and I am not an accountant, but I have had to deal with this in the past), if the child lives with each parent for more than 6 months of the year, then the child(ren) are "qualifying" for both parents, and the tie breaker is Adjusted Gross Income (AGI).  Whoever has the higher AGI gets to claim the kids.
 
 

[msfabulous89]

hm... well thank you for that information! i STILL have yet to be able to get through to the IRS, so at least this will get SOMETHING moving. thank you again!

[MixedBag]

go to their site and start searching....I'd never rely on a phone call answer

[Brosis]

If I am understanding this correctly, the child lived with both of you for 3 months? Time with father would be 1.5 + 3 =4.5 months total. Time with mother 3 + 5.5 = 8.5 months. If the child was with you for 8.5 months, all overnights, then your are technically the qualifying parent because you have more than 50% of the overnights. I assume you were never married? If you were married and now seperated/divorced, different rules may apply :/
My personal experience, I am not married and i have a joint custody agreement 50/50. However, since the father continuously asks me to watch him many overnights without making up the time, he gives me more than 50% overnights. He then forfeits his right to claim him, lol. If he actually followed the custody agreement, he makes more than me annually, then he could claim him. If an auditor contacts me, I simply give them the documented information to show proof the child was in my care. Hope this helped.

[gemini3]

The child was with the father 1.5 months after seperation.
 
The child was with the mother 5.5 months after seperation.
 
That is a total of 7 months.  There are 12 months in a year, so the child was with both parents 5 months before seperation - both parents can claim that time.  Since both parents can claim that time, the tie breaker is AGI (Adjusted Gross Income).  If the father had the higher AGI, he gets to claim the child.