Did the IRS reject your tax return because someone else claimed your dependent?
Claiming a dependent is usually pretty simple: you give the IRS their social security number, certifying that your relationship with that person satisfies a few simple rules.
Things can get more complicated, especially if someone else also claims the same person as a dependent. If they file their return first, the IRS will assume it’s legitimate and award them the full tax benefit of the dependent. When you attempt to e-file your return, it will be rejected.
The process is fairly straightforward. After your e-filed return has been rejected because someone else claimed the same dependent, you need to file a paper return. You can still prepare your return online. Instead of e-filing, you will need to print it out, sign it, and mail it to the IRS.
With your return, include a cover letter explaining your situation to the IRS as well as evidence proving that you have the right to claim the dependent (ie: medical records, school records, etc.).
The IRS will then review both returns claiming that dependent and determine which person should be claiming the dependent based on tax law.
The first thing to do is to make sure that you actually can claim the person in question as a dependent. There are two types of dependents, qualifying children and qualifying relatives, and both have different requirements.
Criteria for claiming a qualifying child
In order to claim someone as a qualifying child, he or she must
- Be your biological or adopted child, stepchild, foster child, sibling, half sibling, step-sibling, or a descendant of one of these
- Be under age 19, under age 24 if a full-time student, or any age if permanently and totally disabled
- Remain a U.S. citizen or resident, or a resident of Canada or Mexico
- Not be married, or be married but not filing a joint return
- Have lived with you for at least half the year.
- Not have provided more than half of his or her own support
Criteria for claiming a qualifying relative
In order to claim someone as a qualifying relative, he or she must
- Have lived with you all year as a member of your household, or be one of the following family members: child, parent, sibling, stepparent, stepchild, step-sibling, half sibling, grandparent, grandchild, child-in-law, parent-in-law, sibling-in-law, uncle, aunt, niece, or nephew.
- Remain a U.S. citizen or resident, or a resident of Canada or Mexico
- Not be married, or be married but not filing a joint return
- Not be a qualifying child of you or someone else
- Have a gross income of less than $4,000
- Have more than half of their total support for the year provided by you
When you sent your cover letter and evidence along with your return, you should strive to prove that you satisfy all of the requirements for the type of dependent that you are trying to claim.
Can I find out who claimed my dependent?
The IRS can’t tell you who else has claimed the dependent for several reasons. One is that since they don’t know who made the right claim, they don’t want to violate the privacy of someone who really is claiming their own child. Another is that there’s always the potential for mistakes, and it doesn’t make much sense to punish someone for accidentally writing a “4” that looks like a “9” when copying a Social Security number.
What if two people both meet the requirements to claim a dependent?
If two different people both have the right to claim the dependent according to the criteria listed above, the IRS will generally award the dependent to the person with whom the dependent lived for the greatest amount of time during the tax year. If the dependent lived with both people for an equal amount of time, then the IRS will award the dependent to the taxpayer with the higher AGI.
Why dependents require a Social Security number
For a while, dependents didn’t require a Social Security number at all. The IRS used to take taxpayers’ word for it when they claimed dependents. But in 1987, the rule changed to require taxpayers to give a Social Security number for every dependent they claimed. And suddenly, seven million dependents disappeared. Many of them were probably due to misunderstandings: two divorced parents each claiming all of their kids, for example. But others could have been due to shady behavior, including claiming children while knowing someone else would claim them, or even fabricating dependents entirely.
Prevent this in the future
The problem can be solved by mailing in a paper return. But how do you prevent this from happening in future years? The IRS is working to improve its safeguards against tax fraud and identity theft, but these aren’t perfect. The best thing you can do to prevent someone else from claiming your dependent is to file your taxes as early as possible. That way your e-filed return will be accepted and theirs will be rejected. You’ll get your refund on time and they will be required to prove they meet the dependent criteria.
Some food for thought
In situations like the ones discussed above, there tends to be emotion involved from both parties. The IRS is required to base all final decisions solely on tax law. When dealing with the IRS, it is most productive to stick to the facts. This will save you time and stress.
Hi, I’m maly and this will be my first year filing for taxes and I want to list my little sister as my dependent because I’ve been supporting her for over 7 months now because she’s living with me. I think a family member of mine has been claiming her a few years now, but I think I should claim her cause she’s under my care. I provide everything for her. Should I claim her or not?
Hi Somaly,
You can claim your little sister as a dependent as long as she meets the following requirements:
As long as she meets all of those qualifications you’re free to claim her as a qualifying child. If she’s older than 19 (or 24), look into claiming her as a qualifying relative. You can find those requirements here: http://www.priortax.com/filing-late-taxes/who-qualifies-as-a-dependent-on-your-taxes/
Also, if two returns are e-filed both claiming the same dependent, the IRS will reject whichever return is filed second. So if you want to avoid the other relative claiming her (and then having to mail in evidence to the IRS that you rightfully deserve to claim her, which can be a real pain) file as soon as possible. The sooner you file, the less opportunity they will have to claim her.
My gielfriend and I have lived together for almost 5 years and I have been the only provider for household. In VA I couldnt claim her as a dependent, but we recently moved to NC with our family. Can I claim her in NC?
Hi njtova818,
The qualifications for claiming a dependent are based on federal law. That means if you couldn’t claim someone in VA, you can’t claim them in any other state.
Ok so this is probably a stranger question. I live with my mother and I have a 5 year old daughter who she has been claiming for the last 5 years since I do not work at all. We received a letter in August telling us that we are being audited. Sent all this paperwork in and now they are saying my mom can’t claim my daughter, but we have no idea why and neither does H&R Block. I know her father didn’t claim her. He lives in a different state and I don’t think he even knows her ssn and he has never done it before either, and they also never said that someone else claimed her just that my mom can’t claim her.. Any ideas with this one?
Hi Jessica,
Did your mother e-file? If so, chances are that another person didn’t claim your daughter, since the IRS’s electronic system will automatically reject a return if a dependent’s SSN has already been claimed by someone else. Another person could have paper filed and claimed your daughter, but this is pretty typical and most likely wouldn’t prompt an audit.
As for whether your mother can claim your daughter, it sounds like she meets all of the requirements.
1) Your daughter is her granddaughter.
2) Your daughter is under age 19
3) Your daughter is a U.S. citizen or resident, or a resident of Canada or Mexico (You don’t make this explicit, but I’m going to assume this is the case. If it isn’t, this could be what’s causing the problem)
4) Your daughter is obviously unmarried
5) It sounds like your daughter lived with your mother for at least half the year (again, if this is not the case, this could be the problem)
6) Your daughter did not provide over half of her own support.
I would make all six of these points to the IRS. If they still won’t let her claim your daughter, I would think about looking into contacting a taxpayer advocate.
My other question is my other daugther is being living with me since she was 2 1/2 months old but her mom never put my name on the birthcertificate and I had being holding to file my taxes till 2010 thats when i finally din my 09 & 10 taxes but tI got a letter from the IRS thather info didnt match I dont know if her mom gave me the wrong social or isbit because im not on the birth certificate k do not think her mom being claiming her but I do know she has never being arround or try to help me with anything that has to do with my daugther I dont know anything from her for over a yr all ready what can i do to be able to get my taxes refound straighten up. Icluding the issue with my other daugther and her mom claiming her on her taxes
Hi again Roy,
This is a little out of the tax realm, but my only advice to you here is that you are somehow going to need some sort of document to prove that you are the biological father of your daughter in order to claim her.
I want to know my ex claimed my daugther on 2010 witch she was born on 10/04/2010 but I was the one supporting her and her 2 childs (non u.s. Citisens) wile she was pregn. And after she had my daugther and since she had claimed her I didnt claim herbecause i thougth i could get on trouble and didnt know a lot about this subject plus I foud out somebody made a froud saying she work for thos company whitch she didnt work the hole time she was pregn. But some how this person does this to a lot of ppl. (gives them false wages that they work for hiscompany but this company does not exist fisical) plus she let someone borrow her ssn to work and she just claim the tax at the end of the yr. Whatcan I do to proof she is just a big froud and Im the one that shoulda claim my daugther on that yr. (we are separated now)
Hi Roy,
It sounds like you could potentially claim your daughter as a dependent. In order to do this, your daughter must be a U.S. citizen or resident or a resident of Canada or Mexico, and she must have lived with you for at least half of the amount of time she was alive in 2010. If you and your ex are both qualified to claim your daughter as a dependent, the IRS will award her to the one she lived with for the longest amount of time in 2010. If she lived with you both the same amount of time, then they will award her to the one with the highest adjusted gross income. So, in order to claim your daughter as a dependent you will need to prove that your daughter meets all of the criteria that determine someone as your dependent, and then you will need to prove that she lived with you longer than she lived with her mother or additionally that you have a higher adjusted gross income.