The IRS does not care which years you claim the exemption,
and which years your ex claim the exemption, just as long as
you don't both claim the exemption in the same tax year.

Any arguments about who claim the exemption in any given
year would fall under the jurisdiction of the court that
approved and enforces the custodial agreement.

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taxhelpneeded <mcseans[at]gmail.com> wrote:

- quote -

The custodial parent is the one who claims the child, unless
the custodial parent signs away that right on Form 8332. A
very recent change pretty much elimiates most court orders
which grant the noncustodial parent rights to claim the
dependency exemption.

A court order that is not equivalent to a Form 8332,
including the signature of the custodial parent and SSNs of
each party, is no longer acceptable to the IRS.

The IRS doesn't care if a child is claimed or not, so long
as the child is not claimed more than once. If claimed, the
rules for claiming a dependency allowance have to be
followed.

I didn't read in your answer just who is the custodial
parent, so I have used the term custodial parent here.

I don't see much in the way of red flags if you trade years,
though the state court might frown in that.

- quote -

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

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taxhelpneeded wrote:

- quote -

Somebody once said that IRS don't care one whit about any body.

And in this case, it's right. They WILL care however when
two (or more) try to claim the same kid.

ChEAr$,
Harlan Lunsford, EA n LA
Wed 23 Feb 2005

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"taxhelpneeded" <mcseans[at]gmail.com> wrote:

- quote -

None

- quote -

They couldn't care less. They're too busy dealing with the
ones who are claimed more than once.

--
Phil Marti
Clarksburg, MD

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I have a situation where the mother of our child has the
legal right to claim him on the 2004 taxes. We are not
together and never were married. In our custodial legal
forms, she is allowed to claim him every 5th tax year and I
have the rest. She did not make enough money in 2004 to
claim him and has asked if I want to claim him (via form
8332 as usual) for 2004, in return for my relinquishing the
tax deduction for 2005 to her. This seems to make sense
because if I do not claim him then noone can, although I am
wondering about any legal ramifications or irs red flags
that this may encounter? If I choose not to claim him for
2004 then legally I can continue to claim him for the next 4
years. I also wonder what happens when no one claims a young
child, does the IRS just not care? Any help is appreciated.

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