Tag: EIC

Posted on by Jan Roberg

If You Could Change the Tax Code, What Would You Do?

The Jan Tax Plan

Line to get in to the Convention

Photo by graham.davis at Flickr.Com

After two weeks of political conventions I thought I’d know a whole lot more about the tax plans for the Republicans and Democrats. Oh, I’ve heard some high minded ideal stuff—but not much in the way of nuts and bolts. If you’d like to do a comparison, you can check out the Tax Foundation’s website to see how they compare and how they compare to the Simpson Bowles plan too: http://taxfoundation.org/article/romney-obama-simpson-bowles-how-do-tax-reform-plans-stack

 

But since Romney and Obama didn’t give me what I wanted to hear, I decided to make up my own tax plan. To be honest, it’s more of a reflection of problems that I see with tax returns that I actually work on but these are the top changes that I would make if I were in charge.

 

1. Earned Income Tax Credit: First I’d reduce EIC payouts by 10% per year until it’s reduced by 30%. In order to claim EIC for a child, you’d be required to produce the child’s report card with passing grade. Why the cuts and why the extra requirements? First, the EIC credit is so high right now that it encourages fraud. Currently, the IRS estimates that between $12 to $14 billion dollars of EIC fraud occur every year. If the payout wasn’t so high, the temptation for fraud wouldn’t be so great.

 

The extra requirements would help ensure that the kids in our communities get a better education. Everybody gives lip service to more education, and parental involvement is key to kids succeeding in school. Well, if your kid is required to pass school in order to get the Earned Income Tax Credit, I think we’d have a whole lot of parental involvement. No report card, no money.

 

If the child is too young to attend school, a current immunization record would be required. It’s proof that the child is getting proper medical treatment.

 

One more thing on EIC—if a person is caught fraudulently claiming a child on his/her tax return, the penalty, besides paying back the tax, should be never being able to claim EIC again. Ever! I work with a lot of the EIC fraud victims, I think they’d really like that rule.

 

2. Self-employment income: If you receive 1099 MISCs and the total amount is less than $4,000—you should have the option to elect to count that as “hobby” income instead of automatically being taxed as self employment. Currently, if you receive a 1099 MISC, it’s counted as self employment and taxed an extra 13.3% on top of your regular taxes. For someone like me, that’s fine. I own my business, I write of my expenses—it’s the way it works. For many people, they have no clue they’re considered self employed. The small amount of income is a hobby or not a real business. $4,000 to me seems to be the break point between hobbyists and business owners.

 

I say, that if you elect to claim the income as “not self employment” then you can’t write off expenses. If you elect to claim that you’re in a business, you can’t go back later and call it a hobby in later years. That keeps people from jumping back and forth.

 

3. The Alternative Minimum Tax: This one is my pet peeve. The AMT adjustment was set in 1969 and hasn’t been adjusted. Right now, Congress basically votes for a “patch” every year. Why they wait until December to do it is beyond me. I say that we should adjust the AMT threshold for inflation and automatically adjust it every year to correspond to the rate of inflation. Normal people can’t plan their taxes without knowing about AMT. The fact that this has been going on for so long is ridiculous.

 

I could probably go on and on but these are my top three. What would you change if you could fix the tax code?

Posted on by Jan Roberg

Can I Write Off My Child Support Payments on my Taxes?

Divorce and Children

Drawing/Photo by o5com on Flickr.com

Quick answer:  No.

 

For a longer answer, you may want to know why.  Here’s the reasoning:  if you are married and living with your family and raising your children—there’s no deduction for paying for their school clothes or feeding them.  That’s pretty much what your child support payments are—feeding the kids and paying for clothes.  So whether you live with your kids, or live apart, the money that’s used for those day to day necessities is not a tax deductible expense.    You don’t get a deduction for paying it and your ex doesn’t claim it as taxable income.

 

What about alimony?  Alimony is different—you get to deduct alimony on your tax return if you pay it, and your ex has to claim the alimony as income.  Alimony counts as income so your ex will have to pay taxes on it. Alimony does not count as earned income for the earned income tax credit, but as one of my clients explained to me, “Oh, honey—trust me I EARNED it!”

 

You might be thinking that paying alimony is better than paying child support—but there’s a catch to that thinking.  If the “alimony” ends when the kids turn 18— the IRS will call it child support anyway so you lose all the tax advantages.  Alimony basically goes for the life of your ex or until a re-marriage occurs.   So while alimony has some tax advantages—child support at least has an end date.  (There are some cases where alimony is only paid for a limited time, but it has to be very separate and distinct from any type of child support to be valid for tax purposes.)

 

Some people pay both alimony and child support.  In a case like that you can deduct the alimony portion of your payment on your tax return.  Now it’s important to know—if you fall behind on your payments—the IRS assumes that you pay the child support first.  For example:  Let say you pay $300 a month in child support and $200 a month in alimony.  For the year you pay $6000 all together:  $3,600 in child support and $2,400 in alimony.  You’ll take a $2,400 deduction for the alimony on your tax return.

 

Now, what happens if you lost your job and didn’t make any payments in November and December of the tax year?  You would have paid $5,000 total, right?  ($500 times 10 months)  And $2,000 of that was for alimony.  But according to the IRS—you pay the child support first.  So of the $5,000 that you did pay, $3,600 went towards the child support and you only get to deduct $1,400 (the amount that’s left) for the alimony.  So make sure that you’re all paid up before the end of the year if you want to deduct all of the alimony on your tax return.

 

If your hungry for more, try http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/135170 to put icing on the cake.

Posted on by Jan Roberg

EIC and Your Family Tree: What Counts as a Qualifying Child?

Qualifying child is an IRS term for claiming a dependent.

Family consists of the people we love, but the IRS definition of family is very strict based upon relationship. When filling out your tax forms, remember you need to use the IRS definition of family to claim dependents.

 

Some people honestly don’t know who does and who does not count as a qualifying child for EIC and they mess it up.  But one of the most common types of EIC fraud is someone claiming a child that does not belong on his income tax return.  If you make an honest mistake, the IRS agent is probably  going to assume you’re committing fraud anyway.  So I’m here to keep you out of trouble.

I come from one of those families where we use phrases like, “first cousin once removed.”  When I was a child I remember going to a wedding reception and playing all evening with my “cousin”, only to be told later that she wasn’t a cousin, she was my “father’s half-brother’s step daughter.”  (Yeah, do the calculation, in any normal family your uncle’s kid is a cousin, right?)

I married into a family that is “we’re all one big happy”.  We don’t have steps, or in-laws, or halfs, we’re all brother, sister, mom, cousin, etc.  I think most people are somewhere in between.  But what we’re dealing with today is the IRS version of family and the IRS version of family  goes like this:

Let’s start with you.  You are the center of the universe and all family members revolve around you.  What we’re trying to figure out here is what counts as a Qualifying Child for you—this eliminates all parents and grandparents and members of their generation.

You may count your brothers and sisters.  You must be older than your brother or sister to claim them (unless they are physically or mentally disabled.)   You can also include step brothers and
sisters, and half brothers and sisters, and adopted brothers and sisters.

A step sibling means that your parent married somebody else who had kids.  There is no blood relation, but there is a marriage license.  If your parent did not marry the other person, even though you all live together and think of yourself as one family unit, there is no IRS relationship.

A half sibling means that one of your parents had a child with someone other than your birth mother or father.  Let’s say your mom had you and then left your dad for someone else and had a child—that child is your half sibling—you two share half of a gene pool.  The counts with the IRS.

Adopted siblings are just that—they’re adopted.  There will be court records showing that they were adopted and part of your family.  Adopted children are always treated like natural born children for IRS purposes.

These people are all on your even level of the family tree.  Imagine you’re standing there with your arms straight out with your brothers and sisters side by side—this is your generation.

Down below your generation is your son, daughter, step child, foster child or a descendent of any of them, for example grandchildren or great grandchildren.  Additionally, any descendents of your  generation—those are your nieces and nephews (or great nieces and nephews.)    So let’s say your half brother adopts a child and he dies and you’re raising that child—that counts as your qualifying child for EIC purposes because he is your nephew.

A foster child is a child who has been placed by an authorized placement agency in your home or by a judgment or decree or court order.  No matter what, a foster child has some legal paperwork involved.  If your neighbor runs off and leaves her kid behind and you wind up raising her, she doesn’t count as a foster child until the courts come in and say she’s a foster child.  This is one of the most common mistakes people make—claiming children they’re taking care of as foster children without the court documents to back it up.  Without that legal piece of paper, the child is not a foster child.

Cousins are never qualifying children for EIC purposes.

Posted on by Jan Roberg

EIC Help Page

EIC help - questions and answers

 

It’s that time of year and we’re getting bombarded with questions about the Earned Income Tax Credit. Here’s some of the most popular questions and where to get the answers you need.

 

My ex has custody of my kids, but the divorce decree says that I get to claim the exemption. My ex says that she gets to because she has custody. I don’t get it, what should we do?

 

You’re in a situation where you “split” the exemption. Here’s information about how to do that legally:

Split Exemptions

 

According to my divorce decree, I’m supposed to claim the exemption for my child but my ex claimed her anyway. Should I send a copy of the decree to the IRS or the judge?

 

I’m not an attorney so I can’t give legal advice, but this post has information on IRS rules and court ordered exemptions:  Court Ordered Exemptions

 

My child’s daddy is out of the picture. My boyfriend has been living with us for three years now and he’s the primary support for my child. Can my boyfriend claim may child on his tax return because it will give us a bigger refund?

 

No. And here’s all the reasons why:  Boyfriend Can’t Claim Exemptions

 

I went to file my taxes and they got rejected. The IRS says that somebody else used my children’s social security numbers on their tax return. What do I do now?

 

Basically, you’re going to paper file your tax return. Here’s more information:  My Ex Claimed My Kid

 

What do I need to do to qualify for the Earned Income Credit?

 

There are some basic rules that anybody claiming EIC will have to meet, like having a valid Social Security number for one thing. Here’s a list of the rules:  Rules For Qualifying for EIC

 

What if I need more information?

 

The IRS has the EITC home page. (EIC and EITC are the same thing; earned income credit = earned income tax credit.) They have lots of worksheets to help you determine if you qualify for EIC if your children qualify, and where to get help preparing your return. Here’s the link:  EIC Help

 

Now if you can’t find the answer you’re looking for, you can always call the IRS – their phone number is 1 (800) 829-1040. Their phones have been slammed lately so you may be on hold for awhile. A few tips: call early in the morning – like 7 am, or later in the day – like after 6pm. And it’s better to call later in the week; Monday’s the worst day to call the IRS. Please be patient and kind to the IRS agent that is answering your question – they have special rules and procedures they are required to follow.

Posted on by Jan Roberg

Court Ordered Exemptions and the IRS

Gavel On Sounding Block

 

I have to start with the disclaimer first: I’m an enrolled agent, I’m licensed by the Department of Treasury to represent persons before the IRS. I am not an attorney. According to the rules of my license, I am not allowed to give legal advice. But I get to talk about taxes until I’m blue in the face!

Why the disclaimer? Because if you’re a divorced parent, you may have to deal with a court order that outlines who can claim your child’s tax exemption. But the IRS has its own rules about who may claim a child’s exemption, and sometimes the courts and the IRS don’t agree.

Here are the IRS rules:

  • If your divorce decree went into effect after 1984 and before 2009, the noncustodial parent may be able to attach certain pages from the decree to the tax return to claim the exemption as long as the decree has no conditions (like paying child support) instead of requiring the custodial parent to sign a form 8332 (release of exemption).
  • If the divorce decree or separation agreement is after 2008, then the custodial parent must sign a form 8332 for the noncustodial parent to claim an exemption.

Can see how this can be tricky? If you don’t sign the 8332 form , and your ex doesn’t have the proper divorce decree documents, then your ex doesn’t get the exemption as far as the IRS is concerned. You’re going to win this one on the IRS battlefield. You may have to take it to the battlefield, but if you do then you will win.

But what does a person do when there’s a court order for her spouse to claim the exemption on the children, but the husband has no right to claim the children as far as the IRS rules are concerned? What do you do if a local judge says, “You’ve got to let your ex husband claim your children for taxes? I order you to sign the 8332 form.”

I spoke with a local attorney about what could happen to a person who followed the strict IRS rules and claimed the children’s exemptions for herself when the divorce decree allowed the spouse to claim – the answer I got was to have the person call her attorney. You see, the IRS rules are all about how the IRS will settle the issue. I’m an expert at how the IRS will settle the issue. But if you’re dealing with a court order, and if your ex decides to take you back to court to enforce the exemption rule, and you defy a court order to allow him to claim the exemption, then it’s quite possible for you to see the inside of a jail cell. I don’t want anybody reading this blog to wind up in prison. So even though you should win a tax case, you should really talk to your attorney before you go against your divorce or custody decree. Make sure that you’re within your rights in your jurisdiction.

If you are the custodial parent and you are required to let your ex claim your children, remember that the exemption only includes the exemption and the child tax credit. As the custodial parent, you keep the Head of Household designation, the Earned Income Tax Credit (if you qualify), and the Child Care Credit (if that’s relevant.) See my post about splitting a child’s exemption:  Split Exemptions

If your ex claimed your child and shouldn’t have, read my post, “My Ex Claimed My Kid” for tips on how to fight back:  My Ex Claimed My Kid

Divorce is tough on everyone. It’s really tricky when you’ve got federal and state rules that don’t always mesh together either. The bottom line is that the IRS does not want to be involved in domestic disputes. If your divorce decree says that the Dad will pay child support and claim the exemption while Mom has the custody, then the IRS does not want to get involved in whether or not Dad paid that child support. That’s why the IRS rules are the way they are. Basically, they’re kicking that issue back to the local jurisdictions. If Dad wants Mom to sign the 8332, then his child support should be paid up to date. If Dad’s done everything right and Mom is still refusing to sign the 8332, then the IRS is saying it’s not their problem – Dad can go back to court and work it out from there-locally.

We used to have a saying when I was a kid: “Don’t make it a federal issue.” I don’t remember where we got it from, probably some TV show. I just remember we just always used to say it. But that’s kind of what the IRS is saying to divorced couples claiming their kids today, “Don’t make it a federal issue.”

If you’ve got a situation where the IRS rules and the court rules don’t line up, do consult your attorney about how your situation can, will, or should be handled.

_______________________________________________________________________

Here are some links that might help

EIC questions of any kind:  EITC Help

How to find free tax preparers:  Free Tax Help

How to find your local IRS office:  Contact Local IRS Office

 

Posted on by Jan Roberg

Can My Boyfriend Claim My Child by a Different Father on His Tax Return for the Earned Income Credit?

A boyfriend cannot claim your child for EIC.

No matter how good a “Daddy” is, the IRS has very strict rules about who can claim the EIC tax credit.

 

 

Short answer: No.  Do not let your boyfriend claim your child that is not his for the Earned Income Tax Credit.

 

Long answer: Noooooooooooooo! Sorry about the bad joke. But really, no he can’t and here’s why:

 

First, and most importantly, it’s against the law. Seriously – claiming a child that you don’t have a right to claim on your tax return is income tax fraud and that’s a federal crime.

 

But how would he get caught? Good question. The most likely way he’d get caught is if someone else tried to claim your child on their tax return, like the child’s real father or a grandparent. Someone might have a problem with you or him and turn you in to the IRS. It’s one of the most common questions I see on the internet: “How do I turn someone in?” I’ve worked on a couple of cases where an older child has accidentally turned someone in by filing paperwork for school which somehow got into IRS records. You don’t want to take the risk.

 

But the most dangerous person as far as your boyfriend is concerned is you. Let’s say you decide to let your boyfriend claim your child and claim the EIC tax credit because it works out to be more money if he does it. You’re breaking the law too, but when push comes to shove you can break into tears and say he forced you etc., etc. It’s not against the law to not claim your child on your tax return, and proving that you “conspired” with him to commit tax fraud would be hard to do. So let’s say that the boyfriend dumps you and goes out and buys a nice engagement ring for his new girlfriend with that tax refund. I’m guessing that would make you hopping mad, right? Furious! You want to get even, don’t you? What better way to get even with that scumbag than to report him to the IRS. You see why he should be afraid? Very afraid!

 

So what could happen to my boyfriend if he did get caught? The maximum EIC for one child is $3050 ($5036 for two, and $5,666 for three.) First, he’d have to pay that back. Let’s say we’re just talking about one child, he’ll have to pay back $3050 right off the bat. Then he’d also have to refund the $1,000 child tax credit, so now we’re up to $4050. Now he’ll also have lost the head of household status which gave him a lower tax rate plus he’s lost the exemption so we’re looking at maybe $5,000 (or more if we’re talking about more children). Then the IRS will tack on fines, another 25% or $1250 for late payment fees, and most likely another 20% or $1,000 for under-reporter penalties so you’re looking at about $7250 in taxes owed. Ouch!

 

It’s also possible that he could be criminally prosecuted. Personally, I have never worked an EIC case that has gone on to the criminal division, but it does happen. What good is your boyfriend to you if he’s sitting in jail?

 

Don’t create problems for yourself by committing tax fraud. It seems like easy money and the temptation is great. You probably even know people who’ve done it and never had any problems. But if you want to feel safe and secure and get a good night’s sleep, file a correct and proper tax return.

 

You may also be interested in these posts:

My Ex Claimed My Kid: Now What Do I Do?

Eight Basic Rules to Qualify for the Earned Income Tax Credit

_______________________________________________________________________

If you need an answer right away, here are some links that might help.

 

Answers to EIC Questions

 

How to find free tax preparers

j

How to find your local IRS office

 

Posted on by Jan Roberg

Eight Basic Rules to Qualify for the Earned Income Tax Credit

Family Shoot 5

Photo by Stuart Richards on flickr.com

To qualify for Earned Income Tax Credit or EITC, you and your spouse (if you’re married and filing a joint return) must meet all of the following rules:

  1. You must have a valid Social Security Number. [If you are foreign born and have an ITIN number, you cannot get an earned income credit, but if you become a citizen and obtain a social security number, you may go back up to three years and amend your old returns using your social security number to qualify for EIC.]
  2. You must have earned income from employment, self-employment or another source. [Alimony counts as earned income, child support does not. Social security, pension payments, and veteran’s benefits do not count as earned income.]
  3. You cannot use the married, filing separate status to file your return. [If you are separated and have been living apart for the last six months of the year, you may be able to use the head of household filing status and still qualify for EIC. Do not claim head of household status if you are still living with your spouse. That’s a form of EIC fraud and can get you into big trouble.]
  4. You must either be a U.S. citizen or resident alien all year or a nonresident alien married to a U.S. citizen or resident alien and choose to file a joint return and be treated as a resident alien. [If you are in the US military and stationed out of the country on active duty, you still count as being in the United States for EIC purposes.]
  5. You cannot be the qualifying child of another person. [Let’s say you are a young mother still in school and living with your parents. If your parents can claim you as a dependent on their tax return, then you cannot claim an earned income credit for your child. You will be able to allow your parents to claim your baby as a dependent on their tax return though.]
  6. You cannot file a Form 2555 or 2555-EZ (related to foreign earned income). [Basically, if you’re using this tax form, you’re living and working outside the country so you wouldn’t qualify to claim EIC anyway.]
  7. Your Adjusted Gross Income and earned income must meet the limits shown for 2011:
    Earned Income and adjusted gross income (AGI) must each be less than:

    • $43,998 ($49,078 married filing jointly) with three or more qualifying children
    • $40,964 ($46,044 married filing jointly) with two qualifying children
    • $36,052 ($41,132 married filing jointly) with one qualifying child
    • $13,660 ($18,740 married filing jointly) with no qualifying children
  8. Your investment income must meet or be less than $3,150 for 2011. [Investment income is basically bank interest, capital gains or dividends from stocks. You might have a partnership interest or own a corporation and receive investment income there. These types of income can prevent you from claiming an Earned Income credit.]

Those are the basic rules that everyone must meet to qualify for an Earned Income Credit. If you have children or are self-employed, you have more hoops to jump through.

Other posts that might interest you are Tax Tips for Single Moms: http://robergtaxsolutions.com/2011/01/tax-tips-for-single-moms/

And also My Ex Claimed My Kid: http://robergtaxsolutions.com/2011/01/my-ex-claimed-my-kid-now-what-do-i-do/

Posted on by Jan Roberg

Tiny Business Owners: When You Don’t Want to Reduce Your Income for Tax Purposes

Small restaurant in Forks

Photo by Derrick Coetzee on flickr.com

I know what you’re thinking: “Come again? You must be out of your head! Don’t I always want to reduce my income for tax purposes?” Sometimes, the answer is no. Actually, I got the idea for this post from Howard, one of my readers with an accounting background and an owner of a struggling restaurant.

I’m walking on a tight rope here so I want to make sure that I explain this carefully. Under tax law, a small business owner is required to report all of his income and expenses accurately. I’m always telling people “don’t make stuff up” – that’s my rule and I stand by it. That said, there’s some leeway, like prepaying expenses at the end of the year to reduce your business income and stuff like that.

Where I’m going with this is there are some people who don’t want to reduce their business income for the tax year. One category is people who are applying for a home loan—you want your net income to be as high as possible, even if you’re paying self-employment taxes because the bank will be looking at your net income. The other category of folks who might not want to reduce their business income is people who may qualify for an Earned Income Credit (EIC).

Since leaving the big box tax company, I haven’t filed a lot of EIC returns; most of my clients are small businesses owners and have incomes that are too high to qualify. But last year, I had 5 EIC returns for people who had never even heard of EIC before, basically small businesses that had hit a rough spot with this economy. (I do lots of returns for people who don’t own businesses too. But I’m on a business roll right now.)

So here’s the thing: as a small business owner, you’re taxed 13.3% for your self-employment tax for 2011. If you make a net profit of $10,000 your self-employment tax is about $1,330. (Not exactly, it’s a funky equation, but that’s pretty close.) If you’re single with no children, the Earned Income Credit would be about $278, so it would make sense for you to lower your net income if you can so that you reduced the self-employment tax. But, let’s say you’re filing as head of household with 2 children – in that case your Earned Income Credit would be around $4,010 so reducing your net might not be such a good idea.

Bottom line: the tax strategies for a business owner who is a parent may be different than the strategies of a business owner with no children.

The IRS website has an Earned Income Tax Credit Calculator to help you determine how much of an Earned Income Credit you can receive if you qualify for one. Here’s the website: http://apps.irs.gov/app/eitc2010/SetLanguage.do?lang=en.

Remember, that’s just the EIC and it is an estimate. Remember that for your-self employment income, there’s also self-employment tax – the quick and dirty calculation for that is 13.3%. It will help you figure out where you stand with the EIC compared to self-employment taxes.

If you’re married and your spouse has income, that income will be included in the overall calculations, so EIC may not be a factor for you.

There are so many things to think about when you own your own business. It’s a good idea to get some professional help at least once every three years to make sure you’re on track and getting every deduction and tax credit you deserve. If you have made mistakes in the past, a professional can amend your prior year returns and get you refunds for what you’ve missed as long as you’re within that three year time limit.

Posted on by Jan Roberg

Split Exemption: Claiming One Child on Two Tax Returns — The Legal Way

IRS rules allow for divorced parents to split a child's exemption

Splitting an exemption is not illegal if you follow the proper rules. Learn how here.

 

 

Sometimes when I’m working with a divorced couple, it seems that the most beneficial way to prepare the tax return is to split the exemption for their child. When I say that, they always tell me, “But I heard that was against the law!” No—that’s not exactly true. But let me tell you, there is a right way and a wrong way to do it. If you follow the rules and do it correctly, it’s not only legal, it’s the right thing to do. Warning: if you don’t follow the rules, you could be breaking the law. I give a lot of advice to do-it-yourselfers, but if you’re planning to split an exemption, I recommend you go to a professional for it. (And if she tells you it can’t be done—hire somebody who knows what she’s talking about.)

 

With most divorced couples (I’m including here couples who were never married but have split apart and have lived apart for at least 6 months of the past tax year), one parent (usually the mother) has custody and the other parent (usually the father) has visitation rights. A lot of couples say that they have “joint” custody – for example, the kids stay with the dad every Wednesday night and every other weekend and with the mom the rest of the time. If you count the days, under IRS rules, the mother wins on the custody status. According to the IRS, wherever the child spends the most nights is where the child lives—if you’ve got one of those every other weekend and every Wednesday night agreements, the IRS doesn’t count that as being equal.

 

In my example, I’m saying the child lives with the mother. In IRS lingo, the mother in this example is the “custodial” parent and the father is the “non-custodial” parent.

 

In this case, the mom has all the power—she’s the custodial parent. The mom can claim all the benefits of having a child on the tax return. Those benefits include:

  • Head of Household filing status-a lower tax rate
  • Childcare tax credit-credit for money you spend on daycare
  • Childcare exclusion-so you don’t get taxed if your company pays for daycare
  • Earned Income Credit-this can be worth up to $3,094 for one child
  • Exemption for the child-a deduction of $3,600 off your income
  • Child Tax Credit-worth up to $1,000

 

When tax professionals tell you that you can’t split exemptions, what they’re reading is the section of Pub. 17 (that’s like our Bible for tax stuff) that says these things always go to the same person. What they’re not reading is page 31—the part that tells you about the special rules for divorced or separated parents. Under the special rules section, it says that the mom (our custodial parent) can release the exemption for the child to the father (the non-custodial parent). This lets him claim the exemption and the child tax credit on his return, while the mom keeps the head of household status, the dependent care credit, and the EIC on her return.

 

Why would anyone want to do this? Lots of reasons! Number one, of course, is to maximize the amount of money you get back from the government. A lot of times, after a divorce, the mom doesn’t have a very high taxable income. Remember, child support isn’t taxable. The dad has lost a lot of his deductions so his tax bill could be pretty high. He’d probably never qualify for an earned income credit anyway, but the $1000 child tax credit would really help him out. If the mom’s taxable income is really low, she wouldn’t even qualify for the $1000 child tax credit. In some cases she could give it away without it hurting her at all. Or maybe the father is behind on child support, she could negotiate: if he catches up on the child support by December 31st, she’ll sign the form to allow the father to claim the child’s exemption. Remember, when claiming the exemption for a child, the custodial parent has all the power. If the dad claims the child without permission, the mom can just file her own return fully claiming the child and sending the dad’s return to the IRS audit division. You don’t want that to happen.

 

Splitting an exemption isn’t the best choice for everybody. You have to look at both returns and see if it’s going to work. It also helps to be on good terms with the ex—this certainly doesn’t work well with people who are fighting.

 

There are a lot of other rules that I haven’t even touched. (That Pub. 17 book is 295 pages long!) But if you are divorced or separated, you need to know that splitting an exemption might be an option for you to use on your income tax return.

 

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Here are some links that might help:

EIC questions of any kind:  EITC Assistant

 

How to find free tax preparers:  Free Tax Help

 

How to find your local IRS office:  Find an IRS Office

 

Posted on by Jan Roberg

Will I Go to Jail for EIC Fraud?

EIC Fruad

There’s a big difference between accidentally claiming your child and criminal tax fraud.

I often hear the question, “Will I go to jail if I cheat on my taxes?”  People see celebrities go to prison all the time, Richard Hatch, the guy who won a million dollars winning “Survivor”was been all over the news for awhile for tax evasion.  He spent four years in prison.   Note:  if you win a million dollars on national television, it’s safe to assume that the IRS knows about it and is looking for it on your tax return.  Other celebrity tax evaders include Wesley Snipes, Darryl Strawberry and Willie Nelson.  (And the list goes on and on….)

But what about EIC fraud?  What happens to you when you claim a child that’s not yours, or if you allow someone to claim your child when that person isn’t the parent?  What’s the punishment there?

If the IRS examines your return and finds that you cannot claim EIC, the worst case scenario would be that they impose “civil fraud” penalties on your return.  The penalty for civil fraud is 75% of your underpayment of income tax.

Say for example that you involved yourself in a scheme where you claimed children that didn’t belong to you over the course of three years.  The difference between what you received as a tax refund averaged $5,000 more each year than if you didn’t illegally claim those children for a total of $15,000 in excess refund dollars.  When the IRS catches up with you, they will demand their $15,000 plus another $11,250 for the penalty which would make your balance due $26,250.  Add to that the interest you’d be charged and you see how costly this is.

What makes this even worse is that if you are charged with civil fraud the IRS can then turn the case over to the Criminal Investigation Division for prosecution.  You could face both civil and criminal penalties at the same time—meaning they put your butt in jail, levy your bank account and put a lien on your house and any other property you own.

Most people who get caught for EIC fraud don’t have the money to pay back the tax owed, not to mention the added fines.  And of course, the higher the dollar amount owed to the IRS, the higher the likelihood of criminal charges.  So you really don’t want to hear the word “fraud” if the IRS comes calling.

But that’s the worst case scenario, fraud is pretty dangerous stuff, and they have to be able to build a case for it.  One of the key points of fraud is that you knew you were doing it.  I once spoke to a potential client over the phone, she had received an IRS letter and they were charging her penalties for fraud.  As she explained her case, she kept insisting that “she didn’t know.”   I thought there might be a case for her so I asked, “You mean you didn’t know it was wrong to claim someone else’s child?”  She said, “No, I didn’t know I could get caught.”  That’s not going to get you off of fraud charges.  I gave her the name of an attorney—if there’s a possibility of criminal charges, you’ll want the tax attorney over the EA or CPA.  (EAs and CPAs have client privilege for tax issues only, for criminal cases, only an attorney has privilege—meaning what you tell them, they can’t tell on you.)

In most cases though, a much more likely scenario is an accuracy related penalty—that would be 20% of the under-reporting.  Let’s say you live with your girlfriend, she has a kid, she said you could claim the kid; you don’t know it’s illegal but you get caught.  You’ll have to pay back the EIC plus the accuracy related penalty.  If the EIC difference was $5000, then you’d add another $1250 making the balance due $6,250.  The IRS would add interest to that as well.

Generally, if you lose an EIC audit, you’ll also be banned from claiming EIC for somewhere between 2 and 10 years depending upon the severity of the case.  That’s probably the worst penalty for most people.  Many of the people who get in trouble for EIC generally are able to claim EIC in other years.  Being banned from EIC for 10 years can cost a person over $50,000.  That’s a lot of money.

Accuracy penalties usually involve amounts of over $5,000.  If your EIC under-reporting is less than that, you’re more likely to pay “late payment” penalties which are equal to ½ of one percent per month.  For example, you file your return in February of 2008, in March of 2010 they catch up with you.  This means that the penalties have been adding up for 24 months, you’ll pay 12% for the penalty, plus the interest owed.  Let’s say you only got an extra $1000 for falsely claiming EIC, you’d have to pay back $1,120 plus interest of course.  The IRS will always get their interest payment.

But what if it’s not my fault? That’s a very common question.  What if it really isn’t your fault?  What happens if you went to a preparer that didn’t know any better and claimed EIC for you when she shouldn’t have.  Or worse, you had a crooked preparer.  (These things really do happen.)

You’ll have to report the preparer.  There are serious fines and penalties for tax preparers associated with EIC negligence and fraud.  The smallest, yet the easiest to prove, is the EIC due diligence paperwork.  For every tax return that has EIC on it, a paid preparer must have a form 8867.  Here’s a link to see what it looks like:  http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f8867.pdf

The link is to the official IRS form.  In my office, my computer software actually uses the same form but I’m required to sign it and have my client sign it as well basically stating that everything on the EIC form is true.  Here’s the thing—the IRS can call up any tax office at any time and say, “Hey, we’re coming to audit your 8867 EIC forms.”  As the owner of a tax business, I have to be able to pull them all and have them ready for inspection.  If I don’t have an 8867 form for every EIC tax return I prepare, its $100 for each one I’m missing.  Guess what, I’m not going to be missing any of those forms.   I can’t afford it and I don’t prepare that many EIC returns.  You can bet that an office with lots of EIC returns has itself covered in the forms department.

So here’s where I’m going with this, if your preparer really is crooked, do report him to the IRS, it’s the right thing to do.  But if you lied to your preparer about your relationship to the child you claimed or some other EIC offense, and the IRS goes to the preparer’s office and pulls the 8867 forms, and they find a signed affidavit with your signature saying that you are the actual parent of the child—now you’ve just proved that you committed a fraud.  That’s the last thing you want to do.  Remember, a plain error costs a lot less than fraud and there’s no jail time involved.

So what should I do if I receive an EIC audit letter?  If you have the rightful claim to EIC, fight it.  If you’re not sure, maybe you do, maybe you don’t—seek professional help.  I’ve seen innocent people lose EIC audits because they didn’t know the rules.  Don’t take chances, it’s too costly.  If you know for a fact that you should not have claimed a child, pay up and get it over with as quickly as possible.  It won’t be easy, but in the long run it will be better for you.

If you know that you’ve illegally claimed EIC, don’t wait for the IRS to come after you.  File an amended return and pay the tax.  You’ll definitely have to pay interest, but by filing an amended return and paying before you get an IRS letter, you have a very good chance of avoiding the penalties.  You’ll probably sleep better too.

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Here are some links that might help:

EIC questions of any kind:  http://www.irs.gov/Individuals/Earned-Income-Tax-Credit-(EITC)-%E2%80%93–Use-the-EITC-Assistant-to-Find-Out-if-You-Should-Claim-it.

How to find free tax preparers:  http://www.irs.gov/Individuals/Free-Tax-Return-Preparation-for-You-by-Volunteers

How to find your local IRS office:  http://www.irs.gov/uac/Contact-Your-Local-IRS-Office-1