How does claiming a child work on taxes?
D_Rock asked:
My fiance and I are not married but we live together. We have 1 child together. I have been a stay at home dad since august of 09. Last year we got our taxes done about a month before the baby was born. We had asked our tax preparer if we were still unmarried the following tax year what we should do about claiming the baby. Basically who of the 2 of us should claim him. She told us when we come in to do our taxes she would figure them out both ways to see who would get more money and fill them out whichever way would get us the most refund. Well we went in to get the taxes done and with her claiming the baby she would get $3,800 back. With me claiming the baby I would have received just under $7,000. She did prepare them both ways as promised but then she proceeded to tell us that a new tax law that has been passed requires whomever makes the most money must claim the child. I was kind of upset by this seeing as without claiming the baby I only got back about $1,400. So in reality we just took a pretty bad cut on what seemed like was going to be a great tax return. Does anyone know anything about this “NEW” tax rule and if it is legitimate or did we get screwed by our preparer? Any info about this would be greatly appreciated and if there is anything that can be done about it?




