"Harlan Lunsford" <hlunsford[at]bellsouth.net> wrote:

- quote -

Yeah. Are we sure that the court can say that a taxpayer is
not eligible to claim an exemption if the child support is
not fully paid? I suppose they can, but I might look for a
loophole there.

Remember that who claims the dependent and who claims the
EIC are two seperate issues. The court can assign who gets
to claim the exemption (within the rules of tax law), but
cannot decide who claims the EIC. That would have to be,
among other things, a parent claiming their own qualifying
child, who lived with them over 183 days during the year.
That is where you will be able to get CID excited. I've
found they just love to hear about cases of EIC fraud.

Of course, I don't have any direct experience in this where
all we have to go on is "IF the guy claimed this it's
wrong". Usually, I have known that someone else has claimed
the child. Oh well.

Bryan

------------------------ Bryan Kellar, EA
Oregon Tax Help, Inc. -- Portland, Oregon
www.oregontaxhelp.com
www.canadatax.org

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Harlan Lunsford <hlunsford[at]bellsouth.net> writes:

- quote -

It seems to me that the father should claim the exemption if
he's entitled to it by the divorce decree, and endeavor to
do so early enough to get it into the IRS computers before
the other guy files.

Since it sounds like the "other guy" is not a custodial
parent under any legal definition, it does not appear that
he has any legal right at all to claim the child as a
dependent; it appears that even if the father was not
granted the exemption by the divorce decree, the other guy
*still* wouldn't be entitled to it; what he's doing appears
to be illegal, plain and simple. Therefore, it's unlikely
that he's going to challenge it if the father manages to
claim the exemption first.

If the other guy manages to file first, then it seems to me
that the father still isn't completely powerless. If,
indeed, the other guy's claiming of the exemption is
outright tax fraud, the father can simply explain politely
to his ex that if the other guy claims the exemption, the
father intends to report him to the IRS for investigation of
tax fraud.

- quote -

It won't be hearsay once the father claims the exemption to
which he's entitled and the IRS tells him that he can't
claim it because someone else already has.

Worst case scenario, if the other guy files first and he
can't get the IRS to invalidate his claim to the exemption,
he's going to have to haul his wife back into divorce court
to get her to adhere to the divorce decree.

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Harlan, I would send it to CID and let them take the ball
from there. I had a taxpayer that got a call, not a letter,
from "The IRS" in Peoria when we live 4 hours away, that
they wanted him to come to Peoria for a tax audit. Needless
to say, I called CID and let them take it. It was the
boyfriend of the ex-wife (who deserted the TP and 3
children). Don't know the outcome, except the TP did not
have to go anywhere and he was not audited.

It was just a simple 1040 and one W-2 anyway.

Missy Doyle

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"Harlan Lunsford" <hlunsford[at]bellsouth.net> wrote:

- quote -

Your basis EITC fraud.

- quote -

Not really. He can go to court for an order for her to sign
over the exemption.

- quote -

With the child's SSN it would be pretty easy to turn that
hearsay into evidence.

I have no idea what, if anything, IRS does with the
information, but I always input all resident childrens'
SSN's on the custodial parent's return even if they have no
tax effect on that return. It was a custodial mother's
statement to me that letting him claim custody of a couple
of them for EITC gave more money to him that led me to this
practice.

--
Phil Marti
Clarksburg, MD

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"Harlan Lunsford" <hlunsford[at]bellsouth.net> wrote:

- quote -

Sometimes you need to think outside the box. Outside the
law too, if you have the stones for it. I find that turning
someone's life into a living hell simply by being an
incredible nuisance brings great joy when done to someone I
despise.

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

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Harlan Lunsford wrote:

- quote -

If father is up to date on support obligations, why doesn't
he claim the exemption (per divorce papers) and let the IRS
sort it out?

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Well.... not exactly, but kinda, sorta.

Situation is that mother, custodial parent, doesn't work,
but "gives permission" to another guy to claim the
daughter, for exemption and presumably for EIC purposes.
(Don't matter that she and child did or did not live full
year with the guy.

The father gets wind of this scenario, is incensed
understandably so at the "prositution of the exemption", but
since he's not custodial parent, and even though divorce
papers say that he gets to claim the exemption provided
child support is up to date for a particular tax year, is
powerless.

Has anyone anywhere had any experience with getting IRS to
look into the matter? CID would be my first idea of
course, however, all father has is hearsay, and that of
course ain't evidence.

Thoughts?

ChEAr$,
Harlan Lunsford, EA n LA

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