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  1. #1
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    Default Can a Parent Who Owes Back Child Support Still Claim the Dependent Tax Exemption

    My question involves a child custody case from the State of Georgia. My sons father owes over 10K in child support arrears. He also pays sporadically. Do I have to let him claim our son on his taxes? Our agreement states that he can claim every other year. However, he is 10K behind and is self employed. So he never gets a refund. He owes every year.

  2. #2
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    Default Re: Father Owes Back Child Support

    Quote Quoting smack277
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    My question involves a child custody case from the State of Georgia. My sons father owes over 10K in child support arrears. He also pays sporadically. Do I have to let him claim our son on his taxes? Our agreement states that he can claim every other year. However, he is 10K behind and is self employed. So he never gets a refund. He owes every year.
    Many child support orders have a provision in them that allows for the exemption to be taken away from a parent in arrears. Pull yours out and look at it carefully. If it does not have that provision, you may want to take it back to court to get that provision included.

  3. #3
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    Default Re: Father Owes Back Child Support

    If your order says that he gets to claim your son every other year then he gets to do it every other year. He probably never gets a refund because the state takes it for his arrears. But that's not going to help him catch up on 10,000.

    My ex is now over 12,000 behind. Last year he did taxes and had like a $200 something refund - and he didn't get any of it. Why? The state took it. I didn't get any of it either so they may have kept it because the mother of his oldest son was on government assistance before he found out he was the dad.

  4. #4
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    Default Re: Father Owes Back Child Support

    Quote Quoting qwaspolk69
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    If your order says that he gets to claim your son every other year then he gets to do it every other year. He probably never gets a refund because the state takes it for his arrears. But that's not going to help him catch up on 10,000.

    My ex is now over 12,000 behind. Last year he did taxes and had like a $200 something refund - and he didn't get any of it. Why? The state took it. I didn't get any of it either so they may have kept it because the mother of his oldest son was on government assistance before he found out he was the dad.
    People who are self employed generally do not get refunds because they have no withholding. The OP's ex is self employed.

  5. #5
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    Default Re: Father Owes Back Child Support

    Quote Quoting llworking
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    People who are self employed generally do not get refunds because they have no withholding. The OP's ex is self employed.
    I get a refund every year. AMAZING isn't it?
    And yes I am self employed.

  6. #6
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    Default Re: Father Owes Back Child Support

    Quote Quoting Ohiogal
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    I get a refund every year. AMAZING isn't it?
    And yes I am self employed.
    I thought some self employed people did - and I would have thought the years he has their child claimed as a dependent he would get a refund...which they probably take.

  7. #7
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    Default Re: Father Owes Back Child Support

    Quote Quoting Ohiogal
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    I get a refund every year. AMAZING isn't it?
    And yes I am self employed.
    Not amazing, no. All that suggests is that you pay in more in estimated tax than you need to. A lot of self-employed persons do not do that, however. There is no benefit to you, after all, in giving the government an interest free loan on your money.

  8. #8
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    Default Re: Father Owes Back Child Support

    Quote Quoting qwaspolk69
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    I thought some self employed people did - and I would have thought the years he has their child claimed as a dependent he would get a refund...which they probably take.
    Someone who is self employed AND qualified for EIC might end up with a refund even if they had no withholding or did not overpay estimated taxes, but since the parent in question is the non-custodial parent then he would not qualify for EIC. The only other possibility would be if his income and tax fell just right that he could benefit from the additional child tax credit in a refund situation, but again, its not likely.

    The fact that he isn't paying his child support is also an indication that its unlikely that he is paying any estimated tax either, therefore, all in all, his benefit in claiming his child would be in having a reduced balance due, rather than any kind of refund.

  9. #9
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    Default Re: Father Owes Back Child Support

    Quote Quoting llworking
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    The fact that he isn't paying his child support is also an indication that its unlikely that he is paying any estimated tax either, therefore, all in all, his benefit in claiming his child would be in having a reduced balance due, rather than any kind of refund.
    I disagree with the notion that not paying child support is in any way logically connected to whether the person is making his/her estimated tax payments. I’ve met a number of self-employed persons over the years who did indeed pay their estimated tax payments (though not enough to get any significant refund) but who did not pay their child support for various reasons, often out of spite to the ex. I in no way defend that, just note that I have seen it happen time and time again.

  10. #10
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    Default Re: Father Owes Back Child Support

    Quote Quoting Taxing Matters
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    I disagree with the notion that not paying child support is in any way logically connected to whether the person is making his/her estimated tax payments. I’ve met a number of self-employed persons over the years who did indeed pay their estimated tax payments (though not enough to get any significant refund) but who did not pay their child support for various reasons, often out of spite to the ex. I in no way defend that, just note that I have seen it happen time and time again.
    You tend to have a different kind of client than we do. Yes, we have some clients who would faithfully pay their estimated taxes but not pay child support out of spite, but its like pulling teeth to get most of our self employed clients to pay their estimated taxes. They are always robbing Peter to pay Paul and never seem to be able to collect the money to get them paid.

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