Larry Israel wrote:

- quote -

The children would have to be either US citizens or US
residents to claim them. That rule has existed for as long
as I can remember.

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Larry Israel <VSLARRY[at]weizmann.weizmann.ac.il> wrote:

- quote -

A dependent has to be a US Citizen or resident, or resident of
Mexico or Canada.

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

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My son, who has been a foreign resident for thiry years,
from age five, has children. He is married to a non-resident
alien. From what I now have read he can not claim exemptions
for his foreign-born children, even if he were to get a
Taxpayer ID for them. Is that correct? Is that correct?

<< ================================================== ===== > << The foregoing was not intended or written to be used, > << nor can it used, for the purpose of avoiding penalties > << that may be imposed upon the taxpayer. > << > << The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting > << messages to this newsgroup are at www.asktax.org. > << Copyright (2006) - All rights reserved. > << ================================================== ===== >

Larry Israel schrieb:

- quote -

1. Note that whether or not the spouse is a US citizen
(indeed especially if she is not), community property rules
may affect the outcome. CP may apply under the law of the
place of marriage, the law of the last US domicile or the
law of the place of present residence. If your tax
consultant does not understand the words "immutability" or
"partial mutability" then I'm afraid he or she is not
prepared to deal with the CP issue. US tax need not be paid
on non-USG income earned for work abroad of a non-filing NRA
-- including CP income attributed to that NRA. (This is not
really a DIY matter unless you are comfortable with arcane
tax law issues and have access to professional tax
documentation like CCH or RIA.)

2. Unless you have not lived in the USA for 5 years, your
children are almost certainly US citizens in addition to any
other nationality they may have. Normally the consular
officer would have assisted you in obtaining social security
numbers when you documented their births (assuming they were
born abroad) and issued a Certification of Birth Abroad of a
Citizen of the United States". You need not register a birth
for the child to be in fact a US citizen (the US Government
unlike many nations (Netherlands, Switzerland, Japan and
many others) does not know who all (or nearly all) of its
citizens are. Many Americans living permanently abroad fail
to register their children's birth (perhaps knowing that
neither the IRS nor any other Government agency will force
the issue).

3. Others have dealt with the remainder of the issues. Open
years can be corrected. Here is a link to the IRS advice on
dependency and exemptions:
http://www.irs.gov/faqs/faq2-3.html


<< ================================================== ===== > << The foregoing was not intended or written to be used, > << nor can it used, for the purpose of avoiding penalties > << that may be imposed upon the taxpayer. > << > << The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting > << messages to this newsgroup are at www.asktax.org. > << Copyright (2006) - All rights reserved. > << ================================================== ===== >

Larry Israel wrote:

- quote -

Too many facts are not in evidence. Please repost and tell
us what the living arrangements are and any other relevant
tax facts. E.g., Is the wife a US citizen or resident alien
of the US; is the wife a US taxpayer (i.e., subject to US
taxes); are you all living together in the same household;
with whom do the children live for the greater part of the
year; are the children US citizens or US resident aliens?

You state these children do not have tax IDs. Getting a TIN
for the children will make no difference if the children are
not US residents. Only residents and citizens can be a
qualifying child for the dependency exemption.

<< ================================================== ===== > << The foregoing was not intended or written to be used, > << nor can it used, for the purpose of avoiding penalties > << that may be imposed upon the taxpayer. > << > << The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting > << messages to this newsgroup are at www.asktax.org. > << Copyright (2006) - All rights reserved. > << ================================================== ===== >

Larry Israel <VSLARRY[at]weizmann.weizmann.ac.il> wrote:

- quote -

Last year the rules changed.

If your children lived with you most of the year and are not
self supporting, they can be claimed by you. Or by your
wife if she also lived with them most of the year. If you
cannot agree, there are some tie-breaker rules that first
give the exemption to the parent who lived with the child
longer, or if the same time, to the parent with the higher
income. If you file jointly, it doesn't matter.

If the children now have ITINs, you can file an amended
return to claim them. But for tax years ending before Jan 1
2005, the rules revert back to the older rules which asks if
you provided most of your child's support, and if so, claim
them.

You have three years after the due date of the return or two
yerars past the date you paid tax on the return if later, to
file an amended return, form 1040X.

Finally, if WPI61 rings a bell, please let me know,
otherwise just ignore the question.

--

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

<< ================================================== ===== > << The foregoing was not intended or written to be used, > << nor can it used, for the purpose of avoiding penalties > << that may be imposed upon the taxpayer. > << > << The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting > << messages to this newsgroup are at www.asktax.org. > << Copyright (2006) - All rights reserved. > << ================================================== ===== >

Say that a US citizen, foreign resident, is filing his tax,
"Married, Filing Separately". If he has three children, and
earns twice what his wife does, contributing twice what his
wife does to running the household, does, does he get to
claim all three children as dependents, or only two, as he
contributes two-thirds of their expenses?

Also, if he has, in previous years, not gotten a Tax
Identification Number for these children, can he file a
revised return (within the time limits) after getting TINs
now?

<< ================================================== ===== > << The foregoing was not intended or written to be used, > << nor can it used, for the purpose of avoiding penalties > << that may be imposed upon the taxpayer. > << > << The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting > << messages to this newsgroup are at www.asktax.org. > << Copyright (2006) - All rights reserved. > << ================================================== ===== >