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 Tax Advisor,
It is annual time for me to change/edit my work’s insurance plan. I want to add my mother-in-law as my dependent to my plan and all her criteria are fit with your above description except she’s just been here the end of last January. Is there any exception rules? Is there any amended documents that I can file? My previous year income tax filing doesn’t include her as my independent yet. Please advise. Thanks. – Kenneth
Hi Kenneth,
There are few specific special cases that may be worth paying attention to depending on your situation:
– The dependent is temporarily absent: A person is still considered to be living with you during any period of time when either of you are temporarily away from home due to school, business, military service, medical care, or vacation. If the relative is placed in a nursing home permanently or indefinitely, they are still considered to be away on a temporary absence.
– If someone died during the year, but lived with you as a member of your household for the rest of the year, they are considered to have lived with you for the entire year.
– In the case of either birth or death, any related hospital stay is considered a temporary absence.
– Any income that someone receives but does not spend is not counted as part of their own support.
– If you and one or more other people together provide more than half of a person’s support, and that person meets the requirements to be the Qualifying Relative of each of you, you can agree among yourselves who gets to claim the person as a Qualifying Relative. It can be anyone of you who provides more than 10% of the person’s support, but only one person can get the exemption.
Hello,
Thanks for this helpful article. I have primary custody over my child. My 2009 decree states that my former husband can claim our child on alternate years. In 2014, he decided to file on January 1st and claimed our child without a signed 8830. I followed your instructions and was able to get a refund. To ensure he would not file again without a signed 8830, I decided to bring the issue to court. The judge reviewing my case seemed barely aware of the rule, and told me I was in compliance with the decree. He reinforced that I needed to follow the decree and not the IRS rule, so I let my husband claim our child as a dependent in 2015. My question is, who prevails in this kind of situation? A state judge, or the IRS?
Thanks so much.
Marcella.
Hi Marcella,
I’m glad to hear that you found the article helpful. Although the state judge you dealt with was hardly aware of the rule, federal law plays the final determination for who can claim a child dependency exemption on a tax return. As stated by the IRS, “Even if a state court order allocates a dependency exemption for a child to a noncustodial parent, the noncustodial parent must comply with the Federal tax law to claim an exemption for the child.” I hope this helps a bit more.
Hello, the info above is very helpful, however my ex claimed our daughter (she is with me 365 days/nights a year) our divorce agreement states only I claim her, but he claimed her anyway this year, my taxes were rejected, so I mailed in my return but failed to include a letter supporting why the return should be awarded to me, will the IRS at least send me a letter requesting this letter before they just file this claim away?
Hi Shannon,
Unfortunately, this occurs more than you know. Your best bet would be to contact the IRS directly about the claim you submitted. You may be able to fax over your supporting documentation so that they can attach it to your paper-filed return.
Hi, I had to paper file my taxes this year because, someone claimed to be my wife, filed in my name, and claimed I was deceased….I fixed the issue with SSA and submitted the return. I’m now finding out while my return is processing, that my ex has filed our two kids as did I, and she’s already received her return? What will happen to my paper file? Will I have to wait even longer to get my return? Or will they send the return and do a audit later?
Hi Drew,
I am so sorry to hear that you had to experience such a crucial tax situation. Good to hear that you cleared things up.
On the bright side, it is a good thing that you paper-filed. You will experience a similar process as mentioned in the above article. It is going to be time consuming (there isn’t really a way around that). What typically happens next is the IRS will mail letters to both you and your ex-spouse. The letter will most likely request that you both provide proof that you are the eligible parent to claim the child(ren). It is important to remember that the eligible parent is the custodial parent. The custodial parent (for tax purposes) is the one who the child(ren) lived with for the most nights out of the year. A court order, alone, will not provide sufficient proof. You’ll want to submit documentation that provides the address of you and your child(ren). For example, medical/dental documentation, school records, etc.
My granddaughter’s other grandmother claimed my granddaughter and I feel like I was entitled to claim her for my son has custody of her and they both (granddaughter and son) lived within my household. I financially took care of my granddaughter as well. I tried claiming her and my e-file was rejected due to this. The other grandmother who claimed her already got her refund and I would like to know if I mail my tax return and provide proof that she lived with me will I then a refund and will the other grandmother get penalized for doing this? She at no time had any contact with my granddaughter and now ends up claiming her as a dependent.
Hi Mary,
I’m sorry to hear that happened to you.
If you meet all requirements set forth by the IRS, then you can paper-file your return and follow the process described in the above article. Keep in mind that this process could be very time consuming (especially since the other party has already received a refund). However, both you and her will need to provide proof to the IRS. They will then base their determination on the documentation provided.
What kind of proof is needed to submit to IRS for myself who is eligible to claim my grandson? My daughter intentionally claimed him, after I have claimed him since his birth.
Hi Pat,
The proof that you can submit to the IRS is typically any/all of the following that you have on hand:
– medical records
– dental records
– school records
– proof of address (that matches yours)
– birth certificate
The goal is to prove that you are the person who is providing the majority of financial support, a place to live, etc for the dependent.