Claiming stepson on 2007 taxes?

[Joshua Kaufman 1]

So my K-1 fiancee and I were married in November 2007, so I can file my taxes for 2007 as "Married". What I'm not sure about is my stepson.

According to TurboTax, he must be a "resident alien" (lawful permanent resident or have "substantial presence" over the past three years) or an adopted child who lived with me the entire year. He arrived in October 2007, and based on what I understand he isn't any of those. But I have provided nearly all of his support in 2007 and - pending our Green Card application - he'll be a "resident alien" in a matter of months! I'm guessing that doesn't necessarily make it okay to file him as a dependent, but with his Green Card coming so soon, it seems like something I should be able to do.

What does everyone think?!

Edited February 20, 2008 by Joshua Kaufman

[jodee 30]

well,..My kids (his stepdaughters) live with my husband and I in Germany. I have a 10 yr greencard, and hubby is a US citizen on military orders here.

They came to live with us in January 2006, straight from Australia (No visas, petitions or other immigration paperwork had been filed for them at that stage) .

We claimed them on taxes last year(2006), and have just done so again this year (2007).

When we claimed last year, we did our taxes as married filing jointly, the tax preparer included the kids on the application, and left the ITIN/SSN section for individual kids blank. when he did that, it said you cannot claim the kids til ITINS are issued, etc... He then completed the form, the system will allow your preparer to do so, and then summarised the tax return. He then should hand the completed tax return to you for manual filing. This is because you have to include an ITIN application. It needs to be sent to a special address.

We included the applications for an ITIN (x2) applied for an ITIN (individual taxpayer identification number) at the same time, and the whole thing had to be sent off to a special part of the IRS for ITIN issuance, then once they were issued, the tax forms were sent to the IRS office and amended by the IRS office(be aware, that your refund will change, once it is reassessed), to include the kids, and sent to the IRS refunds section for processing.

I know thats not what you probably wanted to hear as you have a his AOS pending, and you will be applying for a SSN after he is approved then,..but, the only way to claim the child, at the moment is with an ITIN.

Editted to add: The child is worth at least a $1000 addition to your return,.plus you MAY be entitled to EITC too.

also note, you could just wait til his SSN is issued after AOS, and then File an adjustment to tax return at a later stage this year.

Also note, that you cannot file electronically if applying for an ITIN. Your whole tax return has to be done manually. And it can take up to 12 weeks. sorry!

IRS website ITIN information

Jodee

Edited February 20, 2008 by jodee

[jodee 30]

...double post...

Edited February 20, 2008 by jodee

[payxibka 10,044]

I know thats not what you probably wanted to hear as you have a his AOS pending, and you will be applying for a SSN after he is approved then,..but, the only way to claim the child, at the moment is with an ITIN.

Editted to add: The child is worth at least a $1000 addition to your return,.plus you MAY be entitled to EITC too.

also note, you could just wait til his SSN is issued after AOS, and then File an adjustment to tax return at a later stage this year.

Simply having an ITIN or SSN does not automatically qualify someone to be claimed as a dependant... The tax status of the person must be determined.... Unless the resident fulfills the substantial presence test or the greencard test then they are considered a non-resident alien for tax purposes..... One exception is that a non-resident alien spouse can declare themselves a resident alien for tax purposes (if they also declare there worldwide income as US based income). I am not aware of a similiar declaration for a dependant child....

Edited February 20, 2008 by fwaguy

[desert_fox 32]

If he has a SSN, I would claim him since no one else will, and you provided more than half the support for the year.

[Joshua Kaufman 1]

If he has a SSN, I would claim him since no one else will, and you provided more than half the support for the year.

He doesn't have an SSN currently, as I didn't think of a reason for him to have one at the time. Can he have his own SSN or does he have to wait until after AOS?

[Donna A 4]

i asked the tax person when my husband got here if we could claim his daughter since his ex doesnt work and he does pay his child support. they said no we cant claim her.