I as a step parent would be very upset if my income was being called into court. I don’t know that will even be able to be used.
I don’t know what you mean by illegally claiming her on the taxes but that has no bearing on child support. You are not going to get more support because of the wife’s income. It cannot be used in this state. Step parent’s are not legally responsible for supporting children they did not have and have no say in.
My Child Support worker called all their records into court because they have been hiding $$ he makes on side jobs. I said that in my post.
I guess I should of explained the situation better because I don’t want his wife to pay, I just want his hidden pay from the side jobs and her information for taking my daughter illegally on taxes so I can report her again for tax fraud. And for my daughters Child Support not to be lowered.
What I ment about the taxes is because I am a homemaker they knew no one would be taking my kid on taxes, he had my kids SS number and she put on her taxes that my kid lived with them and she took her as a foster child and then as a step child that she was supporting because if her father filed taxes they would be taken for being over $30,000 in arrears. My kid didn’t see a dime, they got back thousands of $$ by taking the earned income credit. My daughter should of gotten that $$. And no they didn’t have any right to the taxes because he doesn’t pay regularly and my daughter never sees them and hasn’t since we broke up.
Vicky
Are you re-married? If so your husband could have claimed the child. Why don’t you go back and re-file your own taxes for all those years in question? Even if you aren’t re-married I think you can still file your taxes. When the stimulus package came out they told everyone to file. I would consult a tax attorney or do some investigating online. I know for a fact though that if you are married and have that income, your husband could have claimed the child.
It’s still going to very difficult to prove money from side jobs in step-mom’s account I would think. I’m sure she can come up with a bunch of reasons why it’s there.
Either way, good luck in your case.
If she’s a homemaker…how does she file taxes? Unless she is getting alimony (considered income)…which she should if she was a dependent spouse.
If you file claiming the children, and THEY/SHE files, claiming the children…someone is going to get busted. This happened in my case. My ex took a child on his return without telling me, and I filed too. He got in trouble with the IRS and it took a year to pay them back.
comingclean2 is right. It used to be that whoever got their taxes filed first was able to claim the child and that may still be in some cases where the custody is jointly held and it is not specified.
If your ex and you share custody and the tax filing is not specified then the daughter was not filed “illegally”. Even if you have primary custody and you do not file your daughter, then the ex could file her. If the neither of you file tax returns, then the stepparent that does file could file the child.
Doesn’t someone have to file the child as a dependant?
If the stepmother is the only one with an income and that files taxes then that is why her income and tax records are being presented as evidence for the child support. There are no other records and the case worker for CSE would need to have some way to show the courts that there is an income in the household and what that income is. If the stepmother is “hiding” money for the ex then that will somehow show up in her financial records.
my thought was only that if she is a homemaker, he’s not paying child support, then perhaps she’s remarried (who’s paying the bills???) If she’s re-married,her husband is supporting them then he can claim the child just as stepmom did and he would be more entitled to the exemption than stepmom if the child lives in his home.
I agree with 4them. She had said she was a homemaker, but didn’t say if she was remarried. If not, then Stepmother’s answer makes sense. If she IS remarried, then 4them makes sense—especially if mother has primary custody.
Ok I don’t work I am a homemaker and have never been married. I worked for a few months in 2007 (Only because he didn’t pay CS in 7 months) and did file taxes and was able to take my daughter. I have total custody and it is illegal for her Dad and or his wife to take my kid because she doesn’t live with them, when you file taxes it asks you if you take personal care of the child. I believe it said do you fix food and get them ready for school and help with everyday care of the child or something.
They don’t do any of that. In the 9 years of her life he hasn’t lived here he has seen her maybe a total of 3 months when adding the few days together that she has seen him her Dad doesn’t even file taxes. Like I said in my earlier post if he filed taxes my daughter would get it if he got money back because he is so far behind.
I’m sure his wife has somehow twisted the tax rules (guess what at her second job she prepares TAXES!) so she can take her husband (he worked under the table for years) and 10 other kids that aren’t hers.
Thanks for everyones post.
Vicky
Vicky
OK, well if that is the case, I’m not too sure how you would go about checking the legitimacy of the filing unless you asked a CPA. It doesn’t SEEM like she could claim her on her own taxes (ie: without her spouses/child’s dad on the return) unless she had some sort of documentation. Of course, since you didn’t claim her, there is no ‘flag’ to trigger a question as far as the IRS is concerned.
I would ask a CPA firm to see what the legalities are, and if she did wrong, how to go about blowing the whistle.
It is a shame that parents can’t/won’t own up to their responsibilities to help support their children. They stoop to such deceivious ways to skirt their responsibilities.[V]
I am not certain that all the facts are in this post. I assume that you currently are supposed to be getting child support through the CSE? If so, and you are supposed to be receiving the support from the state, then how does he owe $30,000 and is not been called into court?
If you have a verbal agreement for child support amount and no court order child support has ever been filed then the IRS would not hold payment of income tax. They have defined that there are exceptions to what a qualifying dependent is. It states nothing of fixing them food, getting them ready for school, or anything about daily care of the chld. If there was not a written agreement for support or court order, then there would have been no amount to be proven to the IRS that 1/2 was paid…
Here is what I found on the filing issue:
irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1040gi.pdf
These are the instructions for filing form 1040 for 2007. If you read pages 16-17 you will see what qualifies someone as a relative/dependant.
According to the definitions and special rules, I can not tell you for certain that anything was done wrong. If I am reading this correctly the child can be claimed if; parents are divorce/separated/or lived apart during last 6 months of 2007, the child recieved over 1/2 of the child support for 2007 from the parents(support of a child received from a parent’s spouse is treated as provided by the parent), child is in the custody of one or both parents more than 1/2 of 2007, And: the custodial parent signs a form 8332 that she/he will not claim the child, or this is specified in a pre-1985 agreement and at least $600 is provided as support.
If there is no agreement, you do not file taxes and neither does the father, then the stepmother may have been within the law to file the child. It does not say that all of the support must be paid only over 1/2. A stepchild for which over half the support was paid by a stepparent, where there is no agreement and neither parent files taxes, can file that child on their tax returns. Yes, it would be the apparent “right” thing to do to give the child the money but it is not illegal.
I do go through CSE I believe I wrote about my case worker. We go to court every couple of months, he puts the 1st one off then he doesn’t show up for the next court date, they issue a warrant 3 or 4 months later then he might get picked up in another 2-3 months. He sits in jail until the court date then maybe pays $100.00 and gets out and it starts all over again. This has been going on for 9 years.
About the taxes his wife doesn’t pay child support. He has never paid unless it came out of his check or to get out of jail. She was taking my daughter years before they were married and she told me herself she claimed her as a foster child.
When I filed my taxes I used an online program that asks those questions about if I take care of the child I am claiming. I know it isn’t on the basic tax form. Also I am talking about the earned income tax credit too, I am the only one who can legally claim that. I did report her for fraud and she said something about having to pay $600. back but I don’t know if that is true and I know she got much more $$ back than $600.00. I can’t get any information on what if anything has been done because of privacy laws but I couldn’t get anyone to do anything about her using my daughters social security number.
Comingclen2 is correct in that because no one else claimed my daughter it wasn’t flagged. That is how I found out her step was taking her because I tried and was told someone had already taken her for the year. That is why I want to know if when she summits her records (for the reduction) they become public so I can prove she took my daughter on her taxes all those years.
But if you are looking at the fact that if you (not you personally) pay 1/2 the bills that you should be able to take the child. We have lived with my sister most of her life and she paid 1/2 the bills plus babysat and helped my with Christmas etc… So my sister can take her right?
Thanks Again for Everyone’s Post and Well Wishes,
Vicky
Vicky
It sounds as though your sister could claim you both as dependants, since you do not file taxes, I believe that she could file as head of household. My suggestion is to go to the IRS office and talk to someone about your situation. They may not be able to give you information but they could certainly be “flagged” that there is a problem. This may end up with the ex and his wife being audited, but wouldn’t that be justice?
I do not know if this will apply to you but the IRS does have a whistleblower’s program (hate their terminology) and you can file with the IRS that the stepmother claimed your child when she should not have. You will probably have to back your claim up with custody papers (which I assume you have). They will investigate this and you will get a portion of the funds they reclaim.
If you are not getting child support I say get it any way you can and shame on them for claiming your child, getting all that money back and then making your child continue to suffer by not paying support or providing that tax money for support…
Exhibits presented in court often become a part of the court record, however if either party makes a motion to have them excluded from the court record the court will often grant the motion.
If his wife and your ex have a child together then her wages will be included for the purposes of child support, if they do not have a child together then her wages will be excluded.
P.S. Please feel free to bring up this or any other topic on our live call-in show every Wednesday at 11:00 a.m. EST. Visit radio.rosen.com for details
Helena M. Nevicosi
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We go back to court soon for CS reduction. His wife is very upset her tax and bank records were called into court. Once they are presented as evidence are they considered public? I know they are hiding $$ from side jobs he does and gets paid cash.
Also for a few years before and after they were married his now wife claimed my daughter illegally on her taxes. Does this mean she accepts responsibilty for her and we can include her wages in calculating CS?
Thank You for any help
Vicky