Colorado Tax Legal Questions

There is no one best way to minimize taxes on a $750,000 windfall. It depends upon what you might make next year. It depends upon how much you need to maintain your standard of living. A defined benefit pension plan is the first structure that we would help you explore, but there are perhaps a half dozen other structures to consider.... Read More

In Colorado, if that account was his sole asset, the only tax liability should be income taxes and a requirement to file an income tax return for the state and the IRS for the year of his death. Any income accumulated in the account after his death would be taxed on your income tax returns. Due to the size of the estate, if in Colorado, there is no federal death taxes and there is no inheritance tax in Colorado.... Read More

It depends on whether after completing your return you overpaid your tax liability and are entitled to a refund. A review of your return and tax papers may result in a finding that you are entitled to a refund from the IRS. In that case an amended return would have to be filed to claim your refund. However if no refund is warranted then you won't get one from the IRS. The best advice for you is to take your tax information to. A CPA or other tax preparer for a second opinion.... Read More

If your father had income that required a tax return to be filed in previous years and had similar income the year that he died then you should prepare a final income tax return for him. If in prvious years and in the year that he died, if he did not have income that rose to the level of filing a tax return, then it would not be necessary to file a final return.... Read More

If you agreed "to share the tax break every year" then shouldn't you have claimed one of them? In any event, if each child is claimed by only one of you, then you should not have any problem. Otherwise, you need a written agreement. In the absence of that, the parent who provides a majority of the support gets to claim the dependency exemption.... Read More

If you took a deduction for federal income taxes the state income taxes you paid, then any refund of the amount of state income taxes you deducted is subject to federal income taxes.  Since you reduced the amount of federal income taxes paid by the amount of state income taxes refunded, you have to recapture the deduction.  You only get to deduct the amount of state income taxes the State actually kept.  If you did not itemize your deductions and did not take a deduction for state income taxes then your state income tax refund is not subject to federal income tax.... Read More

Ex-spouses can agree in writing on who gets the child tax credit. If there is no agreement then the spouse who has the kids the majority of the time during the year will get the credit. The IRS will give the first spouse who claims the kids the credit, but the other spouse can challenge the credit by mailing in the return claiming the credit.... Read More

You can file under the category "married filing separately". You should file your taxes immediately. If you file electronically before your soon to be ex, then he will be precluded from filing electronically. If he does claim the kids, he will have to paper file and the IRS will investigate as to who has the right to claim them. As he left the kids with you, most likely the IRS would decide in your favor. As an aside, you should also file a petition for custody, parenting time and support to keep the kids with you and get your husband paying child support immediately. If you have been a stay at home mom and the kids are small, you can also request alimony for a period of time, including time to attend school to seek a higher paying employment.... Read More