I wish the VITA text material were as clear as your
responses. Thanks. It's nice to know you've been doing it
right all along. I'll need this for my free tax workshop I
do at the local library. I have one Korean woman who comes
to see me every year trying to claim her brother, who is
disabled, as a dependent. But his wife works.......

Linda

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

DORFMONT[at]aol.com wrote:

- quote -

That is the norm. But if the kids are not filing or are
filing married filing separately, then they can be claimed
as a deduction.

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

DORFMONT[at]aol.com <DORFMONT[at]aol.com> wrote:

- quote -

There's no change, at least not for 2004.

If the child decides to file MFJ then parent cannot claim
(there's an exception that says if MFJ return was filed but
no tax liability exists, parent can claim, but let's ignore
this.)

So the controlling hand belongs to child.

=== === ===

BTW, for anyone who knows General Jim Abraham, he spoke at
our veterans post annual membership meeting last night.
Jim has been working with VITA for many years, and he wrote
Part A of the VITA/TCE test.

__
Art Kamlet ArtKamlet [at] AOL.com Columbus OH K2PZH

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

DORFMONT[at]aol.com wrote:

- quote -

There is no specific requirement that a child be unmarried
in order to be one's dependent. The Joint Return Test
requires that a married child not file a joint return with a
spouse. If a joint return is filed, the test is failed.
The law carves out an exception to this test if the only
reason the married child is filing the joint return is to
obtain a refund and neither the child nor the child's spouse
would have a tax liability if they filed separately. All of
the preceding doesn't negate any of the other 3 tests (being
a child passes the relationship test). If the child is not
under age 19 or under age 24 and a full-time student then
the gross income test must be passed. If the child is under
age 19 or under 24 and a student, there is no gross income
test. Parents could claim the married student's dependency
exemption if the parents could show that they contributed
more than 50% of the total support provided to the child.

--
Alan
http://taxtopics.net

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

DORFMONT[at]aol.com wrote:

- quote -

What it comes down to is: Was there a tax benefit from the
joint filing? If so, then the parents are SOL.

If the joint return is filed to get a full refund of
withholding (this implies that the "total tax" line is
zero), then the joint return is disregarded for the
dependency test.

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

"DORFMONT[at]aol.com" <DORFMONT[at]aol.com> wrote:

- quote -

Nothing has changed. It is what you always thought it was.

--
David M. Woods, EA, ChFC, CLU
Woods Financial Services
Norwood, MA 02062
www.woods-financial.com

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

DORFMONT[at]aol.com wrote:

- quote -

Married filing jointly has first priority. Only if the
"other spouse" agrees to filing separately, as in the case
of a non working wife who was dependent on parents all the
way up to , say, December 24th, may parents claim her.

ChEAr$,
Harlan Lunsford
Wed, 12 Jan 2005

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

<DORFMONT[at]aol.com> wrote

- quote -

Age and income become factors for dependency.

- quote -

Isn't it worth losing a few tax breaks for getting such a
great son-in-law?

--
Paul A. Thomas, CPA
Athens, Georgia

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

I just taught the VITA volunteer course section covering
filing status and exemptions. After reading over the
material I am confused as to who can claim and who should
claim the exemption for a married child.

A married child is one who has been a dependent of his/her
parents and has been supported by them in the year of
marriage.

The IRS material seems to indicate that the parents can
continue to claim the child in the year of marriage because
they provided more than half the child's support. This
elegibility to claim the child prevents the child from
filing a joint return with the spouse of the child.

And then it turns around and says just the opposite: that
when the married children file a joint return, the parents
of each of them cannot claim their respective children as
dependents. This is the way I have always learned it, and it
has been a few years since I studied this basic aspect of
tax law. Of course if the married children are filing only
to get a refund and would owe no tax using their standard
deduction, their parents can claim them as dependents.

Which is it? The parents get them regardless of how much
income they earn if the parents have provided more than half
their support, or the married children get their own
exemptions if the have enough income and file jointly? Or is
it whoever files first gets to choose?

Linda Dorfmont E.A., CFP, CSA

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