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  #6  
Old 02-18-2004, 06:07 PM
CLJ1219
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Default Re: $2000.00 for being SINGLE parent and filing hoh? Urban legend?

- quote -

> > I was told that I could file as head of household as a
> > single mom and recieve an automatic $2000.00.


Automatic $2000 what? Check in the mail? Reduction in your
tax liability?

Carol
What can one expect of a day that begins with getting out of bed.

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  #5  
Old 02-17-2004, 10:29 PM
Christopher Green
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Default Re: $2000.00 for being SINGLE parent and filing hoh? Urban legend?

idsweetie72[at]hotmail.com (idsweetie72) wrote:

- quote -

> I was told that I could file as head of household as a
> single mom and recieve an automatic $2000.00. Now, I have
> never, ever heard of this, and I am wondering if this is a
> legend, or if some tax prepare up here is screwing around
> with single parents.


Somebody's messing with your mind.

Head of household filing status, earned income credit with a
qualifying child, child care credit, child tax credit, and
additional child tax credit can add up to tax breaks that
are quite a bit more than chump change. Maybe even more than
$2,000. But there's no "automatic $2000".

--
Chris Green

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  #4  
Old 02-17-2004, 10:29 PM
Gary Goodman
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Default Re: $2000.00 for being SINGLE parent and filing hoh? Urban legend?

idsweetie72[at]hotmail.com says...

- quote -

> I was told that I could file as head of household as a
> single mom and recieve an automatic $2000.00. Now, I have
> never, ever heard of this, and I am wondering if this is a
> legend, or if some tax prepare up here is screwing around
> with single parents.


Nothing is automatic. It's possible that the difference
between filing as single with no dependents and filing as
head of household with a dependent would generate a refund
that's larger by $2000.

There is also a child credit of $1000, but there are income
limits to that.

I'm going to vote that the tax preparer is fooling around
with the law.

Gary

--
You can probably X figure out X which letters to X delete to
derive my email address X.

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  #3  
Old 02-17-2004, 10:29 PM
Phil Marti
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Default Re: $2000.00 for being SINGLE parent and filing hoh? Urban legend?

idsweetie72[at]hotmail.com (idsweetie72) writes:

- quote -

> I was told that I could file as head of household as a
> single mom and recieve an automatic $2000.00. Now, I have
> never, ever heard of this, and I am wondering if this is a
> legend, or if some tax prepare up here is screwing around
> with single parents.


My guess would be the latter. If you worked, file a tax
return using your W-2. Be sure to look to see if you qualify
for the Earned Income Credit.

Phil Marti
Topeka, KS

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  #2  
Old 02-17-2004, 09:30 PM
A.G. Kalman
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Posts: n/a
Default Re: $2000.00 for being SINGLE parent and filing hoh? Urban legend?

idsweetie72 wrote:

- quote -

> I was told that I could file as head of household as a
> single mom and recieve an automatic $2000.00. Now, I have
> never, ever heard of this, and I am wondering if this is a
> legend, or if some tax prepare up here is screwing around
> with single parents.


Many single parents are head of household if they have a
qualifying person (typically their child) residing with them
in their home. There is no "automatic $2000." There are at
least 3 types of tax credits relating to your filing as HOH.
You may be eligible for some or all of them. One is a $1000
child tax credit less any advance payment you may have
received. Another is a child & dependent care credit if you
paid someone to care for your child in order for you to
work. And finally, there is the earned income tax credit.
This last one is refundable. This means that as long as you
have some earned income that is not above a certain
threshold you may be able to obtain a payment from the US
Treasury even if you don't have a tax liability. Each of
these credits have certain rules and the definition of who
is an eligible child or person differs for all categories.
There is an IRS Publication that explains all of these
credits. It is called Pub 17 and you can obtain it in one of
two ways: http://www.irs.gov/publications/index.html
1-800-829-3676.

--
Alan
http://taxtopics.net

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  #1  
Old 02-17-2004, 09:30 PM
Paul A Thomas
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Default Re: $2000.00 for being SINGLE parent and filing hoh? Urban legend?

"idsweetie72" <idsweetie72[at]hotmail.com> wrote

- quote -

> I was told that I could file as head of household as a
> single mom and recieve an automatic $2000.00. Now, I have
> never, ever heard of this, and I am wondering if this is a
> legend, or if some tax prepare up here is screwing around
> with single parents.


I don't know if this is what you're talking about, but the
standard deduction for HOH filing is $2250 more than filing
as Single.

But, HOH status is available for any single parent, not just
single moms.

There's also a child tax credit of $1000 per child, so two
children would get up-to $2000.

Without hearing what's being "sold" it's hard to tell.

--
Paul A. Thomas, CPA
Athens, Georgia
taxman at negia.net

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Old 02-17-2004, 09:30 PM
Bill
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Posts: n/a
Default Re: $2000.00 for being SINGLE parent and filing hoh? Urban legend?

idsweetie72[at]hotmail.com posted:

- quote -

> I was told that I could file as head of
> household as a single mom and recieve an
> automatic $2000.00. Now, I have never, ever
> heard of this, and I am wondering if this is a
> legend, or if some tax prepare up here is
> screwing around with single parents.


Whoever told you that, may have been referring to the EIC
(Earned Income Credit). Under this program, *all* taxpayers
within certain income limits (Under $11,230 if single [and
age 25-65], and up to $34,692 for Married Filing Joint with
2 children) can be entitled to *refundable tax credits*.
This means that an entry is made (on line 63 of Form 1040
and other lines for 1040A and 1040EZ) for the EIC, just the
same as if you had tax withheld from your salary.

This credit is _only_ granted for *earned* income, which
means wages, salary or self-employment income. No interest,
dividends or capital gains are counted. See any tax form
instructions for full details.

Finally, the credit *could* be as much as $4,204 if you're a
single HOH or MFJ with two children.

So, it is not necessarily a con or scam. However, the EIC
program has been a source of many fraudulent claims in the
past, and filers can expect careful scrutiny.

Bill

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  #-1  
Old 02-16-2004, 09:07 PM
idsweetie72
Guest
 
Posts: n/a
Default $2000.00 for being SINGLE parent and filing hoh? Urban legend?

I was told that I could file as head of household as a
single mom and recieve an automatic $2000.00. Now, I have
never, ever heard of this, and I am wondering if this is a
legend, or if some tax prepare up here is screwing around
with single parents.

<< -------------------------------------------------> << The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting > << messages to this newsgroup are at www.asktax.org > << ------------------------------------------------->
 

Tags
filing, hoh, legend, parent, single, urban
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