Dependent Already Claimed

[kastokes]

So my son’s mother and I have a court agreement that we alternate tax years to claim him. This year is mine.

I received a return rejected notice stating that someone had already claimed him on their return and been accepted. After talking with his mom, she realized she made the mistake. I don’t think she has any intentions of fixing it though. She also received the tax credits last year, so she will probably owe that back to the IRS, since they were technically for this year’s return.

A couple weeks ago when this happened, I mailed in my return along with proof of my right to claim our son this year. I realize the IRS is even more backed up than usual, but I’m wondering if it will end up holding up her return? Is there any other action I can take at this point to keep them from sending out her refund? The reason I ask is because I’m assuming my return will be processed well after tax season and her return being approved could hold things up even more.

Thanks ahead of time!

[BrokeBeyondPissed]

@Vince, were you able to pull your timeline for mailing in your return

[DeepAlms]

If she had. O Ill will intentions, just have her give you the credits from the claim. You’ll want to avoid any and all if possible future audits on her as they will possibly require you to paper file too so this is prevented.

[MizuSeirei]

Oh, and No. They won’t stop the processing of the return that was already accepted. They will more than likely process her return, issue a refund, and if your records are correct…..Send her a notice of audit, where she will have to pay that money back. If she gets audited, she will have to paper file for 3 to 7 years for the sake of preventing fraud; and you may have to paper-file as well.

[MizuSeirei]

In the end, when all else fails; the IRS sides with whomever the dependent spends most of his/her residence. The only exception is if the other party has no employment or is disabled, in which case they may go based on whom has an income (of course).

[MizuSeirei]

You may need to get a letter from her stating the agreement, or show doctor / school records proving that the child lives with you for more than 6 months out of the year. In my opinion, if she really did it by accident, she would give you the difference when she gets her refund.

[MizuSeirei]

Well….. I may have a bit of bad news for you. While there is an option to have an agreement for dependent filing status, unless you can prove that your dependent was in your care for 7 out of the 12 months of the year, you won’t be able to get a reversal on the tax refund that your child’s other parent is getting.

[Vince]

I had a similar thing happen a few years ago. I filed a paper return because my son was already claimed. They processed the other person return, and also processed mine. Sent us both refunds. Then sent out letters saying that we both used the same dependent. It actually has still not been resolved. I don’t believe there was any delay in processing times though. Soon as get transcripts page is available again I will tell you the date they received my paper return and when I received the refund

[Author]

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