My Common Law Husband claims my 2 kids,1 is ours & me on his Income Tax & he gives me ##Question_Title## how can he do that?

Question

I've been a stay @ home Mom for 4 yrs My husband of 20 yrs(on & off) makes $80000 a yr. He told me that he made enough so that I could quit my job. I've worked all of my life up until 4 yrs. ago & this is the hardest job I've ever had.

I do over 10+ jobs being a Mom & don't get paid for it. Due to my husband's high income I can't get "Family Bonus" ($400 a month). If it wasn't for him claiming the kids & me, he wouldn't be getting a refund. He has gotten $26000 in the last 5 yrs. in refund $ & doesn't give me a dime.

Out of the 2 kids, 1 isn't his I get child support for her. I work & do everything that has 2 do with the raising, the house & yard work etc. How can he get the $ that's really the "Family Bonus" that I don't get, all go to him? This $ is 4 the kids yet he says it's his, that's not counting he doesn't give me a dime from his cheques. I work my butt off & some of the things that he's claimed on his income tax was paid with the child support $.

What can I do help plz!

Answer 1

Your problem isn't financial - it's your relationship.  Change it.

Answer 2

You can't do anything about it, sorry.  

If he is legally your common law husband, then he can claim both children, and can file a joint return with you if you are willing to, or since you have no reportable income, can take an exemption for you if he files as married filing separately.

How the two of you handle your finances is between you - the government (including the IRS) isn't going to get involved.

Be aware though that common law marriage requires much more than just living together. Most states don't even recognize common law marriage, and those that do have additional requirements that vary by state.

Even if you are not common law married and just live together, he can claim the child you have together, and very possibly also claim you and your other child as dependents.

Good luck.  It sounds like you have bigger problems than not getting a share of the tax refunds.

Answer 3

Be glad your not married to him, because I've never heard of anybody making that much, getting that much back. It will come back and bite him in the butt someday. So be very glad your not married to him. He's tweeking the system some how. Plus a man only gets away with as much as you let him. Hmmmm, food for thought. Good luck, sister.

Answer 4

I answered this earlier, you had it in the US tax area:

If he lives with the children and the children do not provide over half of their own support, he can claim them as his dependents. His step-child has the same tax status for him as his child. Child support is not considered support provided by the child.

He cannot be taking tax deductions for your daughter's sports. There is no deduction.

If you have no income, but you refuse to file a joint tax return with him, he can still claim your exemption on his separate return.

He does not need your permission to claim the exemptions that he qualifies to take.

From a tax perspective, if you worked you could file your own taxes and he could not take your exemption. He could still take the exemptions for the children as long as he made more money than you.

1 day ago - Edit - Delete

Added later:  Are you legally married to this man?  You need to find out.  If he isn't giving you any money, then I would get a job and file my own taxes.

Answer 5

Musicfan; I wish you would email me so I can actually advise you. This type of advice is not for public consumption. Think about emailing me. There is a very simple legal way to have him pay you what he owes (has to do with child support and post-nuptial agreements). I sure wish a Canadian soliciter would answer this question regarding the common law status of your marriage. Perhaps the best time to post this would be at the start of the business day (in Canada) and at the close of the business day, when they maybe surfing the web. They were probably out fishing or playing golf when you asked this today. Timing is everything (if you want an answer from an attorney) with some of these questions.