Tax Legal Questions

As far the the IRS is concerned the parent with custody of the child,has the right to claim the child's exemption. ?The 2009 decree is not relevant, as a noncustodial parent, she can only claim the child if you surrender your right to claim the exemption. ? However, if the 2009 decree requires that you sign the IRS form surrendering your right to claim the exemption and you don't sign it when requested, you'll be in contempt of court.... Read More

First, there is no provision in the tax law to claim part of a child. Either you get the whole deduction or you get no deduction. If the court order specifies that you get the deduction this year, take the deduction on your return and see what happens. There is a chance that the child's father is lying about taking the deduction (surprising how often this happens), if you both claim then you have the court order giving you the deduction; when IRS asks for supporting documents?... Read More

You need to find out what your father-in-law paid for the house. In Ohio, that is on file at the county auditor's office. Any gain over the price paid is a taxable capital gain. If you have a loss, it's not deductible because it was personal not business use. When you have taxable capital gain, you're required to file Form 1040 with Schedule D attached.... Read More

It's easy to confuse state citizenship with USA citizenship. A USA citizen remains a USA citizen regardless of where they live. You cease to be a state citizen when you move out of the state. If you move out of state in July, you'll have to file a part year income tax return on the income you earned while living there but you're not liable for taxes on the income you earned after you left (except California, which has a penalty on part year residents using a complex calculation). As a USA citizen living and working in a foreign country, you MUST file Form 8938 reporting foreign bank accounts. If you don't the penalties are EXTREME. With their typical bungling, Congress enacted a law to catch drug dealers, Hillary and other felons who hide their wealth in foreign countries but forgot that many law abiding USA citizens live and work abroad, maintaining normal, legal pension funds and bank accounts.... Read More

Filing your taxes jointly will, in almost every situation, reduce the total tax bill for a married couple over married filing separately. There are several differences, many credits and deductions are limited for married filing separately. he main advantage of filing separately is that one spouse isn't liable for the other spouse's taxes. This could be a significant issue if the other spouse is hiding income, inflating deductions or simply not paying the taxes.... Read More

Incompetent people can still have taxable income. To use a current example, the comedian Tyler Perry is legally incompetent from injuries suffered in a car accident. However, I'm sure that he's still receiving millions in residuals and has substantial assets that produce income. If your daughter had taxable income, her guardian needs to file a return and pay the tax out of her assets. Most state income taxes don't have a medical expense deduction, which might eliminate her Federal taxes.... Read More

No, unemployment compensation and wages are both taxable income and will both likely be reported. ?So you're ok as far as taxes. However, it IS unemployment fraud, if you haven't reported accurate information to the unemployment people. ?If you think it's tough getting a good job now, wait until you go looking for a job with a conviction for felony fraud on your record. ?Oh well, they say that you get free lunches when you work at a McDonalds.... Read More