A common mistake among divorced parents is the belief that the parent who pays more to support a child is entitled to the dependency exemption for that child on his or her federal income tax return. In fact, this might not be the case.
There are three steps to determining whether a parent may claim an exemption for a child.
First, the child must be a dependent of the taxpayer. To be a dependent, the child must:
- be the taxpayer’s child;
- share the same principal place of abode as the taxpayer;
- either be under 19 or, if a student, under 24; and
- not have provided over one-half of his own support.
Second, if the parents are divorced, they must have:
- provided over one-half of the child’s support; and
- lived apart at all times during the last 6 months of the year.
Under these circumstances, the custodial parent is entitled to claim an exemption for the child.
How may the noncustodial parent obtain the exemption instead? This question brings us to the third step: The noncustodial parent must attach to his or her income tax return a written declaration from the custodial parent stating that the custodial parent will not claim the child as a dependent for that taxable year.
The IRS has published Form 8332 for the purpose of stating that the noncustodial parent will not claim the exemption. If Form 8332 is not used, then the written declaration must include (1) the name of the child, (2) the specific years of release, (3) the signature of the custodial parent confirming his or her consent, (4) the Social Security number of the custodial parent, (5) the date of the custodial parent’s signature, and (6) the name and the Social Security number of the noncustodial parent claiming the exemption.
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