Tax Exemptions for Children: Sample Language

Be sure that your court order stipulates which parent will claim the child(ren) on his or her tax return. Some parents alternate years, so that the father claims the child one year and the mother the next. My husband has two minor children; he claims one child and the devil claims the other, so his order is written like this:

"TAX EXEMPTIONS FOR CHILDREN
20. Each party shall be permitted to claim one of the children on his or her income tax returns each year, with Petitioner ["the devil"] claiming Child 2* and Respondent claiming Child 1.* By January 31st of each year until Child 1* reaches the age of majority, Petitioner shall provide to Respondent a completed and signed Form 8332 – Release of Claim to Exemption for Child of Divorced or Separated Parents. By January 31st of each year until Child 2* reaches the age of majority, Respondent shall provide to Petitioner a completed and signed Form 8332 – Release of Claim to Exemption for Child of Divorced or Separated Parents."

*Your child(ren)'s name would be substituted for "Child 1" and "Child 2."

Form 8332 - Release of Claim to Exemption for Child of Divorced or Separated Parents is required for a parent with less than 50% custody to be able to claim the child on his or her tax return. You can download the form from the IRS website (http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f8332.pdf). You should also visit http://www.irs.gov/ to learn more about claiming a child who is a dependent of parents who are divorced, legally separated, separated under a written separation agreement, or who lived apart at all times during the last 6 months of the calendar year.

*IMPORTANT*: You won't be allowed to deduct your work-related childcare expense if your tax return doesn't reflect that your child lived with you all year. The IRS's reasoning is that if the child doesn't live with you, then you don't need childcare to be able to work. This, of course, if flawed thinking because many non-custodial parents are court ordered to share in the cost of work-related childcare. But the law is what it is.