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.
Hello, I am being audited this year. I have had to take an idenity test which I passed now I have to send in proof of me dependents. The only problems with this is my niece stays with her mom some but I provide care for her. Would a letter help I have been claiming her for the past 3 years.
Hi Charlotte,
I letter from her Mom is not really going to help. You have to offer proof that she meets all of these requirements: http://www.priortax.com/filing-late-taxes/who-qualifies-as-a-dependent-on-your-taxes/.
Here are the different forms of evidence that the IRS will find acceptable: http://www.eitc.irs.gov/public/site_files/F866-H-DEP-2012.pdf.
Also, just a piece of advice, there is no way that you can claim your niece as a qualifying child, so if that’s what you’ve been doing you’re probably out of luck.
What do you do when you file claiming your 20 yr old child as a dependent. They move to a different state after you file, and then tell you you BETTER give them the money for claiming them or they will turn you in for Fraud? A measly $270.
Hi Diane,
First of all, you need to figure out whether or not you are eligible to claim them. This article will provide some more info: http://www.priortax.com/filing-late-taxes/who-qualifies-as-a-dependent-on-your-taxes/. You can only claim a 20yr old as a qualifying child if they were a full-time student during 2012. If not, then you might be able to claim them as a qualifying relative, but the requirements are pretty strict.
If it turns out that you really could claim them as a dependent then you’re fine. You don’t need to do anything. If you shouldn’t have claimed them as a dependent then you should file an amended return with the IRS which will probably ask you to pay back some of that money. I would not pay any money to your child. It’s up to them to file their own return claiming their own personal exemption.
Im in the middle of a custody battle and the kids have lived with me for 5 years. They still live with me and i found out this year that their mothers new boyfriend claimed them on his taxes and got the refund. How do i go about fixing this? my return has been processing for 23 days now and ive heard nothing.
Hi Steve,
I’m confused. Clearly you’ve filed already, but did you file a paper return claiming them or did you e-file a return that didn’t claim them. What you should have done is mail in a paper return claiming them. If you did this, then realize that it’s going to take a while for the IRS to process, a lot longer than 23 days. They have to review both of the returns that claimed the dependents and then award them to the person who deserves them.
I efiled my taxes and they were rejected because it said someone else had already claimed my son as a dependent. I feel like my ex husband his father claimed him. Is there anyway that I can do something to find out if he did claim him or have him audited so that he will have to amend his taxes so that I can claim my son. My son lives with me the entire year, his father is ordered to pay child support but half pays it and our divorce papers state that he can not file him on his taxes. I know that I can file mine by paper and go that route but I was wondering before I did that if I could contact the IRS and something be done about it.
Hi Andrea,
There’s really no way to force him to amend his return so that you can e-file. Pretty much the only route available to you is filing a paper return.
I filed my taxes and the next day I found out someone had already claimed my son. It happened to be my parents. I had full custody and financially paid for everything. We did live with my parents but I worked full time and paid rent. I paid daycare and groceries. My son and I lived together with my parents from feb until dec of all of 2012. I know my parents owe the IRS bc my dad claimed to many dependents for several years. Not my fault.. I’m currently pregnant and really needed my whole return to help my children and I financially I’m a single mom. I’m due April 30th how fast can I get this fixed?
Hi Tristan,
Based on your description of the situation, it sounds like your parents actually do have the right to claim your son as a dependent. You can find the requirements you have to meet here: http://www.priortax.com/filing-late-taxes/who-qualifies-as-a-dependent-on-your-taxes/. It doesn’t actually matter who provided support for your son as long as he didn’t provide more than half of his own support.
However, you also meet the requirements to claim your son. And when two people both meet the requirements to claim a child, the IRS will generally award him to whoever he lived with for the longest amount of time during the year.
Here’s what you need to do: print, sign, and mail your return to the IRS. Include a cover letter explaining the situation as well as evidence that proves you meet all of the requirements outlined in the article above as well as proof that your son lived with you for the full 12 months of 2012. You should be able to have all of the paperwork taken care of before April 30th, but there’s a chance that you won’t have your money yet. These situation can often take several months to resolve.