[EandDmom]

I posted this on the Indiana board but so far no one has answered so thought I would see if anyone could help me on this one.
OK I know this is early but I'm trying to get a handle on how this works. I believe if the kids are in your home for more than 6 months you can claim them as dependents on your taxes. Here's my dilema we got our kids on July 2. If you count by months we missed the cut off by 2 days but if you count up the days in the year and divide it out we are a day past the 6 month mark. Except this was a leap year so how does that play into it? Also, does it have to be 6 months in that year or can you count back a year. For example starting July 2 6 months would be Jan. 2 so for the following years taxes can we claim them for the 6 months even though it would only be 2 days of that current taxes year? Does that make any sense? I'm sorry to be so confusing it is just driving me insane trying to figure it all out.
Thanks for any and all advice you all have about this. I'd like to have some kind of a handle on this before handing it all over to an accountant and trusting that they know how to handle foster kids as dependents.
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[jllambert]

Did you get these kids as soon as they came into care? If they were with the parents less then six months the parents Can't claim them. If they were in another placement less then 6 months that FH can't claim them. Our CPA told us whoever has the kids the longest in that year is the one who can and should claim them! So say they were with BP for 3 months and another fh for a lil over 3 months, but then you had them 5 months and 21 says you would be the one to claim them!!!
We always let our Bio-parents know when we are going to claim their child on our taxes so that they don't even try it and get into trouble with the IRS.

[ALfostermom]

My tax person said you have to have them in your home 6 months out of the year you are claiming. And you have to prove you provided more than half of their care expense. i figured it one year on my 12 yr old that i had for the entire year and with getting a board payment for her it knocked me out of being able to claim her. Because she got free lunches, free childcare-her board payment covered more than half of her living expenses. We are advised not to try to claim foster children as dependants because most times the birth families will still claim them and it could cause a delay in getting your refund. Here they say beings how you don't claim your board payment as income it equals out in the end.

[timleenettesue]

We claimed our foster children and have never had any problems. I had to give our accountant information I had found on this forum and on the internet to show her how it worked (we are her only foster parents), she had never dealt with it before. After receiving my research she did her own and we claimed them. It helped us a great deal.

[Vitality08]

You have to have the kids over six months during the tax year. So you can count how many days in the year (this year 366), divide by 2, and then add 1. That's how many days the kids have to have been in your home for them to be your dependants. If the child is born in that calendar year but is less than 6 months old, you can still claim the baby.

There is no means test so you don't have to prove what you spent on them. the only test you have to meet is that they were placed with you by a child placing agency AND you had them in your home for more than 6 months.

you can't carry the time over to next year. it has to be more than 6 months in that tax year.

[Sam-N-Tony]

Originally Posted by Vitality08

If the child is born in that calendar year but is less than 6 months old, you can still claim the baby.

I think Vitality is right about having them more than 6 months, take the actual days of the year divide it by 2 and if they have been with you more than half of the year then yes you can claim.

On a side note, I have a baby that was 1 month old when he came into care, he is now 2 months, more than likely he will be with me clearly through the end of the year. Can I claim him because he was born in July was with Mom for 1 month but with me for 4 months by the end of the year. That would be ideal.... I am soo excited that I can claim Mr. Touchy this year and if I can claim Baby Don King then even better.

[jbee]

i don't know if it is just our agency, or our state of PA, but we can't claim them, however, none of our stipend is taxed and it does not count as income if we are to apply for WIC or state health insurance for my 'real' family. it is like it is not even in existence.

[Chancey]

Originally Posted by jbee

i don't know if it is just our agency, or our state of PA, but we can't claim them, however, none of our stipend is taxed and it does not count as income if we are to apply for WIC or state health insurance for my 'real' family. it is like it is not even in existence.

Your agency can NOT dictate to you something that is an IRS rule. Here is the url at the IRS for a qualifying child A “Qualifying Child�

In addition, please read careully the part where it talks about support "Support — did not provide more than one-half of his/her own support for the year." This means that you do not have to prove that you spent more than 1/2 of their support on them, it is stating that the child did not provide more than half their own income. So, unless you have a very hardworking teen that is supporting themselves, it makes the support test moot.

With all that said, if a child is in your home for 6 months or more, is placed as foster you can claim them as a dependent on your taxes. We have claimed different kiddos on our taxes for the last 3 years and have not had a problem.

[Vitality08]

It's the FEDERAL tax code that allows foster children to be claimed. Your agency may tell you that you can't, but you can. I think the issue some people run into is that they don't have SSN's and the agencies won't turn them over so alot of people can't claim their fk's because they don't have the number. If your agencies policy is that they prefer for you not to claim them then I guess they could withhold the number.

Last year I had my fd's for over half the year but their mom claimed them. I didn't bother fighting it because the girls were home by then and I figured she could use the money a lot more than I can. My agency gives a very generous stipend so for me it doesn't matter either way. From my understanding, a lot of families don't receive decent stipends so alot of the support is provided by the actual foster family. In that case I definitely think the family should be allowed to claim the children if legally able to do so.

For my current kids, by december I will have had them for the entire year except for the first 25 days of the year. They are legally my dependants and I plan to claim them.

As for the person with the baby that was with mom for 1 month...I'm not really sure about your situation because from what I've been told is that the baby had to be released to your home from the hospital but that doesn't make it absolutely true...so I would look into that. if you have the placement paperwork and the ssn, I'm sure you'll be fine if the IRS asks for additional proof of your right to claim the baby.

[jphollen]

We missed the six month rule by three days last year and were not allowed to claim our fd, because of the three days! Our state doesn't have a generous stipend and their own state study says on ave foster parents spend $218 a month more than there stipend (depends on age but about $300 after clothing and personal allowance)...so the tax deduction really helps us...when we can get it.

[Vitality08]

For people that miss the 6 months, there's still a way to claim some of your expenses. It's based on charitble giving. I don't have the exact IRS code on that but it exists. For that though, I think you need to provide all your reciepts to prove it. you can only do it this way if you haven't had the child long enough to claim them...you can't claim them and then claim charitble giving.

[EandDmom]

Originally Posted by jphollen

We missed the six month rule by three days last year and were not allowed to claim our fd, because of the three days! Our state doesn't have a generous stipend and their own state study says on ave foster parents spend $218 a month more than there stipend (depends on age but about $300 after clothing and personal allowance)...so the tax deduction really helps us...when we can get it.

I can beat you. I think we are going to miss it by one day. AHH!! If it hadn't been a leap year we would have just made it. Stupid Feb. 29th. We recieved them July 2nd and we had court today and the next court date isn't until Dec. 3rd. Mom is doing horrible on her caseplan so I know we will have them through the end of the year even if she does start working her plan perfectly I don't think they will rush them going immediately back I think they will work them into it by weekend and overnight visits.

[wahinekehau]

Before last tax season I called the IRS and they put me through a series of questions and then determined that we were NOT allowed to Claim our FD. She has been with us for just about 2 years. Our payment from the state is not taxed.

[ALfostermom]

Originally Posted by wahinekehau

Before last tax season I called the IRS and they put me through a series of questions and then determined that we were NOT allowed to Claim our FD. She has been with us for just about 2 years. Our payment from the state is not taxed.

That is also what i was told because of us receiving untaxed board payments we could not claim the child.

[jphollen]

We got a tax mailing last year from DCFS in our state regarding new federal tax laws and how to claim your foster child if they had resided with you six months. I will see if I can find it and scan it. If so I could email it to anyone interested.

Our tax person did help us take deductions for expenses that weren't reimbursed. As long as you keep receipts/records (I have a hard time with the receipt thing) it's not hard to get a deduction. A long winded example fd broke a window, agency will only pay for the window after you have turned it in to your insurance and it was about the same as the deductable. Or when they come to you with a plastic Wal-Mart bag of clothes and for whatever reason they aren't eligible for a voucher and you spend a ton trying to get them school clothes. And on and on. We ended up getting about a five hundred dollar deduction and could have got much more had I kept better track of receipts.