 quick recap of the impact of the dependence on the accounting equation so if we increase or decrease the number of dependents it could have an impact on the standard deduction not always but possibly if for example there's a change from a single status to a head of household status which is due in part to the dependent there could also then be a change on the tax rates because the progressive tax tables could change if there's a change in status say from single to head of household for example but the main focus we think about when we have a change in dependence is going to be the tax credits and the big one or the one that comes to mind first is going to be either the child tax credit credit or the other dependence credit now we talked about the general rules in a prior presentation f for presentation and that is we're going to think about if there is someone as a dependent we want to think about do they qualify as a qualifying child do they qualify for the child tax credit and then if they don't qualify for the child tax credit then we're looking to get that other dependent credit that's always the thought process that's kind of in our mind in other words when we think about the dependence the dependent that qualifies as a child for the child tax credit is usually going to be giving us the highest tax benefit for a dependent and if we can't get that then we're going to see if we can get the other benefit being the other tax credit that's the general idea now we went through the the questionnaire in a prior presentation and this is the tax form with a dependent support accounting instruction by clicking the link below giving you a free month membership to all of the content on our website broken out by category further broken out by course each course then organized in a logical reasonable fashion making it much more easy to find what you need then can be done on a youtube page we also include added resources such as excel practice problems pdf files and more like quickbooks backup files when applicable so once again click the link below for a free month membership to our website and all the content on it they're going to be here this is going to be where they record the dependence the filing status is noted up top and then on the page two we have the tax implications possibly the tax rates changing due to difference in the filing status and the child tax credit or other dependent credit this is the big line that we typically think of when we're thinking about these credits now we went through the questionnaire and usually it's fairly straightforward to determine whether or not someone qualifies for credit and then to figure out what kind of credit do they qualify for the child tax credit or the other dependent credit but we talked about there could be some gray areas and for example if you don't know if someone qualifies as a dependent because there's joint custody situations is a common type of gray area and in order to address some of those items then we go into the definitions and special rules so this is kind of getting into the weeds now where there's kind of an unusual situation area so definitions and rules so we've got the adopted child and adopted child is always treated as your own child an adopted child includes a child lawfully placed with you for legal adoption so anytime that comes up pretty straightforward rule there there you adopted in the basically your child with regards to the taxes related to them adoption taxpayer identification number that's an a 10 a t i n's if you have an a dependent who was placed with you for legal adoption and you don't know the dependents s s n that's their social security number you must get an a 10 an a t i n for the dependent from the irs you can see form w 7 a for details if the dependent isn't a u.s citizen or resident alien apply for an instead of using form w 7 children divorced or separated parents so a child will be treated as qualifying child or qualifying relative of the child's non custodial parent a defined layer if all the following conditions apply so remember when we think about the test as to whether someone qualifies for a dependent usually we're thinking about do they live with the taxpayer and whatnot is over a half of the support given to them and so on but oftentimes you have these joint custody kind of situations which then you oftentimes if when someone's going through a divorce or separation or talk talking about child custody in a legal setting they kind of want to define these rules because you don't want of course to have fights over taxes you'd like to get it laid out so everybody knows what's happening from day one so there's not like manipulative weird stuff going on later but that's difficult to do oftentimes and in the process of a separation or custody type of thing they do this joint custody so once again a child will be treated as a qualifying child or qualifying relative of the child's non custodial parent defined later if all the following conditions apply one the parents are divorced legally separated separated under a written separation agreement or lived apart at all times during the last six months of 2022 whether or not they were uh whether or not they were married and then two the child received over half of the child's support for 2022 from the parents and the rules on multiple support agreements later don't apply support of a child received from a parent's spouse is treated as provided by the parent three the child is in custody of one or both of the parents for more than half of 2022 for either of the following applies a the custodial parent signs form 8332 or a substantially similar statement that they won't claim the child as a dependent for 2022 so now the custodial parent which would typically be the parent that would be claiming the dependent is basically saying they're not going to complain that uh going to claim them and have this written agreement for that why would they do that well possibly that's part of separation or divorce agreement or whatever that was come to possibly because they came to that because there was a tax benefit in whatever arrangement they settled on and it was you know that's what they agreed on uh for for whatever reason so and a non custodial parent includes a copy of the form or statement with their return so the non custodial parent and then has to verify that that this is indeed the case with a copy of the statement if the divorce decree or separation agreement went into effect after 1984 and before 2009 the non custodial parent may be able to include certain pages from the decree or agreed uh instead of form 8332 you could see uh post 1984 and pre 2019 or pre 2009 decree or agreement and post 2008 decree or agreement for more information so again somewhat of an unusual situation here but not totally unusual given the given the current environment so b a pre 1985 decree of divorce or separation maintenance or written separation agreement between the parents provides that the non custodial parent can claim the child as a dependent and the non custodial parent provides at least 600 dollars for support of the child during 2022 so if conditions one through four apply only the non custodial parent can claim the child for purposes of the child tax credit and credit for other dependents line 19 and 28 so remember the general rule with regards to these the situation is if you're talking about a dependent you can't really claim them on two returns that's clearly if you claim the same social securities number for the same person on two returns you will almost surely get a kickback from the IRS that's gonna that's gonna have a notice or you won't even be able to file the second return because that social security number had already been used if you're attempting to file electronically so when people get into kind of manipulative games the first person to file and claim say the child is going to be able to get the tax return to go through and the other person might not even be able to file the tax return if and you know and then the and then the whole thing becomes a mess so what would like to happen is of course whatever separation agreement or custody agreement is worked out you have it worked out and with the understanding that obviously you can't have both people getting the tax benefit of the one of the one child and that's going to be part of the whatever gets worked out