TIGTA's MISSION: Provide audit and investigative services that promote economy, efficiency and integrity in the administration of the internal revenue laws. Visit them at http://www.treasury.gov/tigta/index.shtml
Every so often, the good guys win. Every once in a blue moon, putting up a fight for what’s right pays off. We’ve been campaigning for a long time for the rights of parents whose children have been claimed illegally by other persons. The IRS has listened, and they’re going to do something about it.
Glory Hallelujah!
I’d like to tell you that the IRS is responding to the petition that Roberg Tax Solutions sponsored last spring. I’d like to tell you that but it isn’t true, we didn’t get enough signatures to even get the petition read.
But, the IRS is responding to an organization called TIGTA: Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration. TIGTA’s got the muscle to make some changes.
TIGTA was auditing refundable tax credits and found that they were susceptible to fraud. For those of you who have been victimized by those fraudsters—you realize it doesn’t take Sherlock Holmes to figure that out. But TIGTA was able to come up with some hard numbers—as in of the $2.3 billion dollars that they found to be fraud, the IRS was only able to recover $1.3 billion dollars—that’s a billion dollars gone with the wind!
TIGTA’s recommendation is that the IRS implement additional controls to identify and stop erroneous claims for refundable credits before refunds are issued.
TIGTA requested an account indicator to identify taxpayers who claim erroneous refundable credits. Taxpayers with that indicator should be required to provide documentation before their claims for refundable credits are processed and should be considered for pre-refund examinations of claims for all refundable credits. (That’s basically what Roberg Tax Solutions asked for in our petition!)
The IRS management has agreed with TIGTA’s recommendations and they will take corrective actions. They will develop a pre-refund examination filter so that historical information is available and used as selection criteria. Now that’s not exactly what TIGTA recommended—but it’s a good start.
Is this a perfect win? No—but for victims of child identity theft, it’s definitely a step in the right direction. To read more about the TIGTA report, click here: http://www.treasury.gov/tigta/auditreports/2012reports/201240105_oa_highlights.pdf
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For some more information on this subject, be sure to check out:
Will I Go To Jail For EIC Fraud?
http://robergtaxsolutions.com/2011/04/will-i-go-to-jail-for-eic-fraud/
My Ex Claimed my Kid: Now What Do I Do?
http://robergtaxsolutions.com/2011/01/my-ex-claimed-my-kid-now-what-do-i-do/
Stolen Children
http://robergtaxsolutions.com/2012/05/stolen-children/
Hi Alfredo,
Your ex and you are not divorced but you’ve been apart since 2013. She’s been claiming the kids for 4 years and hasn’t told you? I’m guessing that you figured it out back in 2013, right?
But that’s not what you meant. You meant that she goes and claims the girls without discussing it with you first.
Let’s address problem number one. What do you mean by 50/50 custody? Because a lot of divorce/separation agreements say “50/50 custody” but the reality is, dad sees the kids on Wednesdays and every other weekend. If that’s your situation, then you don’t have 50/50 custody for IRS purposes and you don’t have a chance at claiming anything with the IRS.
Now if you truly have 50/50 custody, then you have a much better chance of some type of claim. The IRS looks at where the children lived for most of the year. If you had the girls for over half of the year – then you would have the right to claim them. If you had them for less than half of the year – then you lose. If you and your ex were perfectly even – I would suggest that you each claim one child. But clearly she’s not going to like that.
So since you’ve been separated for so long. Why not visit your attorney and get your divorce? Or, if that’s not what you want, maybe at least get your separation papers drawn up with some type of written agreement about how claims what? If you are the non-custodial parent, then you two may be able to make some type of arrangement – she claim’s the head of household filing status and you claim the exemptions if you’re up to date on your child support. Or something like that.
What you don’t get, under any circumstances, is a share of her tax refund. Either you file for your own refund, claiming the children and proving that you’re the one entitled to it – or you don’t. But there’s no rule about being entitled to part of someone else’s refund. I’m getting a lot of questions like that some I think I’m not spelling it out good enough.
One last thing – nobody ever said that the IRS was fair. (Sorry.)
My ex and i are not divorced but havnt been living together since 2013. She has been claiming my 2 girls on her taxes without telling me so. We have 50/50 custody and i believe i have rights to claim my girls. I asked her about it this year and all she does is laugh. Theirs no reasoning with her. What can i do to stop this . And am i entitled to owed money since she has been getti from 7 to 8 k per year. Not fair.
Hi Lisa,
You have an interesting problem. Since your ex owes the IRS, why don’t you talk with him about letting you claim the children? Or at least releasing the exemption to you. Then again, if he owes the IRS a lot of money, claiming the children would be a good way for him to pay it back.
Now if you claimed your kids and he was entitled to claim them and you got caught–now that would be a problem wouldn’t it? Do you really want the IRS involved in your ex-marital issues? Here’s the thing–I once dealt with an EIC audit that obviously, OBVIOUSLY, really obviously–the parents were in the right. It was so obvious, that it was shocking they even got a letter–but their daughter had filed something incorrectly and that’s what started the whole thing. It wasn’t an ex-situation, it was a kid trying to file her own tax return and doing it wrong.
Anyway, guess what? There was something wrong with the parent’s return that never, ever, in a million years would have been noticed by the IRS–except for the EIC audit. I never would have caught it (and I’m a sneaky, nasty, suspicious type) but because of the EIC audit–they got caught.
I hate to say it that way, they were nice people and I don’t think they were trying to cheat on their taxes. But the audit, that never should have happened in the first place–well it outed them.
So, here’s my question to you. If you claim the kids, knowing you shouldn’t–and get sent into an audit that you’re inviting—will everything on your tax return be squeaky clean? Are you 100% sure? Remember, you’re talking about making a claim that–if your husband is on the up and up–you will lose.
I don’t think it’s the best idea.
I believe my children’s father allowed someone to claim our children. He owes the IRS and based on the way our parenting schedule was set up he had the children slightly more than I did, so he had the right to claim them…but he owes the IRS and they would have taken his refund and applied it to whats owed. How can I prove that my children were fraudulently claimed? I don’t know for a fact, but I have a strong feeling that this is what took place. If I were to amend my taxes and claim them, and he actually did claim them then I would be subject to penalties…etc. Suggestions??