Husband Screwed Me in Tennessee

[LiLMiracles]

Hello.. need some advice please in Tennessee. My husband and I have been married for almost 8 yrs with 3 small children. Ages 4, 4 and 15 months. My husband and I are on the brink of getting a divorce soon.

Here is my dilemma.

Every year of our marriage I have always done our taxes. This year my husband decided to file his Married filing seperately online with Hr & Block which I was not happy about. I did up our taxes married jointly and married seperatedly for both us in advance to let him know how it would turn out. Ended up he would owe and I told him only way he wouldn't have to was to claim the kids.

Well, that is when he went to file, claimed 2 of our 3 children and claimed ME as well on his taxes. Which he could not do. He said the "program" said if I didn't work for 5-6 months that I could be claimed which we all know is a BS lie. Someone I don't know who but someone had to have helped him with those taxes but he said there wasn't anyone. But, I know the program does not say that.

He could not claim me for one.. I DID NOT give my consent for him to claim me. Secondly just because I have not worked since July.. I still have income coming in (Severance Pay).

So, because he filed the way he did. I got screwed and not being able get anything off claiming the 3rd child due to a 1099-R that I also filed. But, he also screwed us in the EIC and the Addt Child Tax Credit.

I guess you can say that I am pissed because only when I threated to sue him and whomever helped him with his tax return for what rightfully belonged to me if we had filed jointly did he want to immediately go get his return amended then.

So, now the jerk has his money and I gotta wait a heck of a lot longer to get mine.

Is there anything that I can use with this for when we get ready to file for our divorce. Especially when he claimed me as an exemption withOUT my consent in the beginning.

I am just curious


Thank You in advance

[lewifenj]

Call the local IRS office and report his sorry a$$. He did not have your consent to claim you, nor your kids, that is fraud.

[akbuyer]

Were you separated during 2005? If so, for how much of the year?
Where did the kids live if you were separated? You're absolutely right that if you had any income and choose to file married (separate) or head of household (depending on the answers to the above questions...you don't have to be divorced) then just go ahead and file your taxes as you should and report his *** to the IRS. Let him deal with the mess he made. I'm assuming? that you did NOT sign an IRS form 8332 or similar document allowing your husband to take the exemptions.

However, short of there being an explicit statement in the separation and/or divorce agreement as to whom the children go to for tax purposes (both for exemption and as qualified dependents...these are different things when it comes to children of divorced parents) then they go to the primary custodian (physical and legal) or in the case of 50/50 custody to the individual with the higher AGI (adjusted gross income). Something to keep in mind for the future....check out the IRS website....it, as is typical with the IRS, is buried in numerous forms and exceptions and forms and publications, but it's in there....just went through all this last month

[elklaw]

Well here is the thing- married filing separately but he claimed the kids; seems that one of you would file as head of household and the other as married filign separately. You may want to report him to the IRS, but you also may want to go see an attorney and file or legal separation and get it in writing that you have custody of the kids and the right to file the IRS deduction for them. After you do that, file your return, report him to the IRS and force him to file an amended return and pay the money back to the IRS. At this point, unless you get a court order saying that you have those deductions effective this year, then you may have trouble getting the kids off his return. As for you, you claim innocnet spouse relief and report him to the IRS saying you should not have been claimed as a dependent and seeking innocent spouse protection for his tax screwups.