My mother has been claiming me as a dependent now for about 4 years. Nothing ever came about it til I filed?

Question

my taxes this year. I was not able to file unless I checked the box that I was claimed as a dependent (my mom filed before I did) because of that i got less of a refund. now just the other day I was sent audit papers, cause I filed property taxes in 2006 and dependents can't file for them. It says that my mother has to complete a parental dependent disclaimer and amend her taxes. She will do this. How/where can she amend them? Also then can i amend mine to uncheck the box to get the leftover of the refund? and then would I get a stimulus check?

How much trouble would she be in?

(she in way has any right to claim me. I have been living on my own since 2004 and she does not support me any way)

Answer 1

She'll use a form 1040X to file an amendment for each year when she claimed you and shouldn't have, and you will use a form 1040X to amend the return you filed not claiming ourself, to change it to claiming yourself.

Your mom will have to pay back whatever tax she saved by claiming you, plus penalties and interest.

Answer 2

then she had no right  to claim you seeing you live on your own. i would say since this is your first year filing that she might be ok for the past years. But the other problem with that is since they already found this problem on that. you might get a full aduit now. if you are full aduited then you are in trouble as well for not filing taxes for 04 05 06. i'd suggest talking to either lawyer or a trusted tax person. you could both be looking at some hefty fines here.

Answer 3

If she is not supporting you in any way, then she cannot claim you as a dependent. You can amend your taxes (for previous years too) by filing a 1040X with the IRS. Ultimately the real question is who benefits more from the deduction? If she saves more in taxes than you do because she is in a higher bracket, or for some other reason, then you can let her keep you as a dependent and just have her pay you for what you would have saved if you had not let her claim you. for instance, if she saves $1000 by claiming you as a dependent, and you would only save $600 by claiming yourself, then she should claim you, but pay you some money; maybe split the difference and pay you $800. Then you both technically win, right?

the way to do this is to prepare the 1040X's for both of you (with you keeping yourself as a dependent) and then comparing to the original 1040's that you filed for both of you. you will see how much each of you save or owe, and can do the math from there.

Ultimately, you need to ween your mom off of keeping you as a dependent if she's not really allowed to do it. She wont get "in trouble" for correcting her taxes using a 1040X, but there will be interest owed to the IRS because she didn't pay the correct amount the first time. If she is a higher wage earner, you should probably just leave everything the way it is and make her pay you some using the method I described above, or just let dear mom get by with having less taxes, your choice--- but really, you're paying too much in taxes if you aren't claiming yourself. good luck!

Answer 4

You also goofed.  You always had the option of filing your taxes by mail and claiming your own exemption.  Your mother's error in claiming you didn't prevent you from claiming your own exemption.