A college student, Suzanne Sutton, Beta Alpha Psi member, of Eastern Washington University. She brought up some interesting questions and/or corrections. The two reason her questions were so interesting to me are 
 

1. Her perspective on the issue or reading of my response is probably similar to yours.

 
2. There are many common misconceptions about how binding divorce contracts are on tax issues. Having handled these problems at IRS's Appeals level and at audits, I can see where someone might believe that divorce contract has more power than it does.

Last week, I made the comment, "Darlin' if you are the one providing more than half the support, most likely, unless you've signed away your rights on Form 2120 - you will get the right to take your own child as a dependent"

It WAS early in the morning when I wrote that. And the form is the wrong one (although, it would serve the purpose). The correct form is Form 8332. It is specifically designed for Divorced or Separated Parents to designate who gets the exemption.

This has been changed on the site - so if come back for reference, the link will be correct. Don't worry.

Ready? Here goes the discussion:

Suzanne:
 

Dear Tax Mama,

You may wish to amend your answer to the parent questioning who takes the exemption for the child when there is a provision in the divorce agreement. Your answer on the surfaces makes % of support sound like it is an important factor, which it is not if the right to exemption has been decreed. 

According to your source above, pre-1985 agreements must have support of over $600, while post-1984 agreements have no limit. Also, you may wish to remind the parent also to check the validity of the child tax credit if that is being taken, since (according to my professor & textbook) the one with the dependency exemption gets the possibility of taking the child tax credit. 

Since divorce affects so many issues regarding tax planning, have you written an article on the subject that can be accessed?

I always thought that everything related to Tax  matters was dull. Especially Tax Professionals ... that is till I subscribed to I-Helpdesk_WebReview ... Eva moderates her list with incredible warmth and humor ... her humor section is sometimes (not too often :-) funnier than our own Jest for Pun. Although I've never used her Tax Services (don't earn enough to worry about such stuff :-) I'm willing to bet that it'll be 'interest'ing ! ... Gunjan, Jest for Pun

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Updated October 6, 2000

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