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,
This may be lengthy but I will explain to the best of my ability.
My husband, still married, and I decided to separate during May of last year. We are still married and still very close, just not living together at this time. I lived with my husbands Mother from May 7th of 2012 til July th of 2012 and took my three children with me out of the household July 13th. The father of my children are my husband. Anyways, due to a personal decision between my husband and I we decided to let our three children stay with his mother until further notice. She got them, without me moving in, on July 27h. I have legal documentation stating that this in fact is true. So, without me living with them with her, she has had them since July 27th, me being absent from the household. I went to file my taxes and of course she claimed them, didn’t say anything to me about it and she doesn’t have legal custody of them either. We are however going through a custody battle at the time, but again she doesn’t have legal custody and she didn’t have them, without me in the picture, for over half the year.
Yet she told me that I had no right to claim them and it was against the law if I did. I want to know if this is true and if I can claim them what do I need to provide to show that I had them for over half the year besides the court transcript stating that she hasn’t had them until July 27th?
Hi Tori,
Based on your description it sounds like your children were living with your mother-in-law from May 7-July 13 and then again from July 27-December 31. By my count that’s over half the year. This means that she does have the right to claim them.
However, it also sounds like they lived with you for over half the year as well, which means that you too have the right to claim them. In these situations the IRS will reward the dependents to whomever they lived with for more time. So you need to figure out whether they were literally with your or the mother-in-law for more nights. You should know that her having legal custody over or not has nothing to do with and every night that you were with them in her house can also count as a night that they spent with her.
If it turns out that they spent more nights with her than you, you probably shouldn’t even bother claiming them as they will likely be awarded to her anyway. If it turns out they spent more nights with you, you should paper file your return claiming them along with a cover letter and evidence. You can find a list of evidence accepted by the IRS here – http://www.eitc.irs.gov/public/site_files/F866-H-DEP-2012.pdf
I went to claim my taxes and someone claimed my kids allready there is no way unless some one did it in way of fraud what action do i take who do i call?
Hi Derrick,
For more info about what to do when someone users your SSN or that of your dependents, check out this post on our sister site PriorTax: http://www.priortax.com/filing-late-taxes/someone-used-my-social-security-number-to-file-taxes-what-should-i-do/
Last year i was unemployed and i asked my brother to claim my daughter and then my ex (paperfilled) nd also claimed her recently my brother got a letter saying someone else claimed same child we were not living w/ex at that time nd i asked my ex to amend his nd he is not willing to do that i dnt want to get my brother in any trouble what would happend next?
Hi Nomiii,
Well, it sounds to me like neither your brother nor your ex have the right to claim your daughter as a qualifying child. Your brother can’t claim her because she is not legally his daughter. And your ex can’t claim her because she did not live with him for at least half of the year. Your brother should look into claiming her as a qualifying relative. You can find the requirements here: http://www.priortax.com/filing-late-taxes/who-qualifies-as-a-dependent-on-your-taxes/.
Here is what SHOULD have happened. You should have filed your own return and claimed your daughter as your dependent. Even though you were unemployed you very likely could have gotten a refund. You do not have the right to “give away” a dependent to anyone. They must meet the requirements in order to claim them. As for resolving the situation above, your brother needs to file an amended return either claiming her as a qualifying relative or not claiming her at all. Then your ex needs to amend his return so that he does not claim her as anything.
Where can I find a sample cover letter for this? My ex husband claimed my son, although my son has been legally living with me for the past two years & my current husband & I for the last 9 months. My ex has not even seen my son in over a year. I have the required proof needed to make the claim, just no idea where to start with a cover letter or who to specifically address it to. Thanks.
Hi Jaime,
I don’t think you need a sample cover letter. Just address it to the IRS and explain how you meet the requirements to claim your son as a dependent and how your ex-husband does not.
I am writing this on behalf of my brother. He filed his taxes back in Jan. and he has still not received his return. When he goes to the official IRS tax site it says that his return is still being processed, however he did receive a letter from the IRS that states they are checking his return and will give him a response no latter then April 18. I a just trying to help him understand what is going on. The only reason that I could come up with why this may be is because someone else may have claimed his children. Does this sound like a possible reason why the IRS would be holding on to his tax refund. I also was wondering if someone else did claim his children and the IRS proceeds with an audit. Is it true that the children would not be able to be claimed on next years taxes? Please if there is anyway to help me I would appreciate it. Thank you.
Hi Colleen,
It’s possible that the IRS could be reviewing his return because someone else claimed his dependents but I think it’s fairly unlikely. If someone else had already claimed your brother’s dependents his return would have been rejected by the IRS (unless he paper filed). His return has problem been claimed for review because it features certain deductions or credits that the IRS identifies as often being abused for tax fraud.