I Need Help Filing Tax Returns for the Last Few Years

Whoever is the custodial parent is the one who has the right to claim her. I know this for a fact because my friend just went through this. If I were you, I would tell him that you are going to claim her because you're the custodial parent. It will probably not show up until next year if he does go ahead and claim her. You will receive a notice stating that two different social securities numbers claimed her social security number. It will say that if you are the custodial parent, to disregard the letter. Her father will be required to pay back all of that money from the previous year. You won't have to worry about anything or deal with anything.

As far as who to file with, I would say that if noone has any ideas for someone, to call H&R Block and a few other places and figure out which one is cheaper.

Hi Michelle,

That makes me so mad to hear that your daughter's father wants to claim her on his tax return. That is definitely not fair as you are the one taking care of her 24/7. Arrgh! :) The good thing is that it can always be proven who is the main caretaker, although it is a pain and takes time. Just for future reference, the IRS has a toll-free number you can call and they have tax professinals available to answer any tax related questions. I've called many times when I didn't have someone on hand to ask. They're really quite helpful. Maybe they can even refer you to a tax preparer?? Doesn't hurt to ask. The IRS wants people to save money and claim as many credits due to you as possible. So, definitely get your back taxes filed (I forget how many years you can go back, but it's quite a few!) so you can get those credits!!

Take care and good luck!
J.

I just went through the same issue (well, almost the same!) I hadn't filed for years, and due to my ex and court, I suddenly had to "catch up". I found this woman, AMY, who doesn't charge an arm and leg, and is licensed with the IRS to due tax returns. She helped me out, without a doubt. Email her, and tell her that "J." recommended her. Her email address is: ____@____.com I know what you are going through! The Best of Luck!!!

I dont think the father can claim her unless it was otherwise agreed on before hand- I am diviroced and it was agreed that my ex could claim our daughter every other year unless he was behind in child support.

I have an awesome tax guy that comes to our house goes over everything and then delivers it when its done. It cost around 150-200 depending on work and returns.

There are places like H&R that just put the basics into the computer - fine when you're dealing with regular stuff. For something like this you may want to go to someone who really knows his stuff. We have a great tax guy whom we have used for special circumstances and he's terrific. He gets it done quickly and he SO knows what he's doing. The first year we used him we needed to not have him charge much and he was flexible with that - it ended up costing as much as H&R would have so that's cool.
His name is Stephen Barasch and his phone is ###-###-####