[hoosierfostermom]

Its that time of year again. My accountant informed me that I can claim my foster child on my taxes for 2012 as he was a newborn placed directly from hospital into my care. My complication, I do not have his ss#. I have placed multiple calls to my CW and she states she is waiting to hear back. Is there anything else that can be done?

There is possible issue in which mom may rush to file and then if I file afterwards and IRS complications arise. Any ideas how I can get his ss#? Is a trip to the SS office needed?

He was in NICU she had no contact allowed, so I am not even sure if she received information to apply for his SS#. But she is quite difficult and uncooperative so...

Any advice welcome!

[Kat-L]

Originally Posted by hoosierfostermom

Its that time of year again. My accountant informed me that I can claim my foster child on my taxes for 2012 as he was a newborn placed directly from hospital into my care. My complication, I do not have his ss#. I have placed multiple calls to my CW and she states she is waiting to hear back. Is there anything else that can be done?

There is possible issue in which mom may rush to file and then if I file afterwards and IRS complications arise. Any ideas how I can get his ss#? Is a trip to the SS office needed?

He was in NICU she had no contact allowed, so I am not even sure if she received information to apply for his SS#. But she is quite difficult and uncooperative so...

Any advice welcome!

Could you possibly request an ATIN? I know it's for adoptive placements but if you have placement paperwork saying you took custody from the hospital, it might work

[elk134]

An ATIN is only for pending adoptions, so unless that is your case, you can't use that.

If a SSN has already been issued, you will need to get that number. If it has not yet been issued, the CW may be able to help you in getting the SSN, but not sure if that is feasible in your area. And if parents will not get in touch with her, that may be difficult.

[DianeS]

You need the social security number in order to clam a foster child - no other number or paperwork will suffice.

If the CW doesn't get it for you, there are a couple other things to try.

One is to ask the doctor's office. The medicaid information is tied to the social security number, so the doctors' paperwork often has the SS number on it somewhere.

Another thing is to take your placement paperwork and some ID info for the child (like a shot record) into the SS office and ask them for it. Some offices will tell you the number, others won't.

It is often helpful to NOT say that you want it for taxes. Just say you need it for paperwork, or something non-committal like that. Saying it's for taxes often skews the conversation into whether you have a right to claim the child, which you already know you DO have. Keep it simple and don't let the convo skew that way. Asking in person, with a smile, and a shrug about state paperwork... that is surprisingly effective.

[TemporaryMom]

She may not have it yet. I have no idea why it varies so from state to state but it does. Chubbs was placed in
Late August and it took until end of December for CW/AW to get his SSN card. You can always file your taxes and then file an amendment to claim baby. Keep in mind, if bio mom beats you to it, you'll have to do that anyway.

[lovemy3babies]

With our first placement, they could never come up with a SSN for him! He had 3 different names, the SS office couldn't figure out how to make them prove he was "one and the same", and it took almost a year to get it. And now that he's adopted we are having the same problem! Ugh!

We luckily kept all of our receipts from everything we had bought for him - furniture, clothing, car seat, stroller, formula, etc. - and we were able to deduct all of that somehow to make it a similar amount of tax benefit. It was either that or nothing because there was no getting a SSN in time to claim him.

[Searching4Motherhood]

I think my caseworker needs some evidence that claiming a newborn is okay to do. I have heard of it before but when I sent my fw an email letting her know and asking if I needed to let the visit supervisor know so she could tell bio mom she said she would do some checking and get back to me. I have a call into my tax person but even she sounded a bit unsure. Anyone know where I can find something to support my claim that it is acceptable to do this?

[OhioFosterMom]

Originally Posted by TemporaryMom

She may not have it yet. I have no idea why it varies so from state to state but it does. Chubbs was placed in
Late August and it took until end of December for CW/AW to get his SSN card. You can always file your taxes and then file an amendment to claim baby. Keep in mind, if bio mom beats you to it, you'll have to do that anyway.

Right, whoever has baby for 183 + days in the tax year gets the write off.

[racingwife20]

From what I understand in my state (NY) the CWs cannot give out the SSN for a child in care, even if it is to the FPs. Somehow I don't believe you can get it from the doctor's office either, especially if you weren't the one who provided it in the first place. I received paperwork from my agency stating that a ATIN would be required to file taxes and claim foster children. However, I was fortunate enough that the childrens' mother provided me with their SSNs a long time ago, so I don't have to worry about it.

I would be careful about attempting to get the SSN through anyone but your agency or the birth parents. And it's likely the agencies cannot provide that information to you.

[TemporaryMom]

Originally Posted by Searching4Motherhood

I think my caseworker needs some evidence that claiming a newborn is okay to do. I have heard of it before but when I sent my fw an email letting her know and asking if I needed to let the visit supervisor know so she could tell bio mom she said she would do some checking and get back to me. I have a call into my tax person but even she sounded a bit unsure. Anyone know where I can find something to support my claim that it is acceptable to do this?

Pretty clear right here:

http://www.irs.gov/uac/A-“Qualifying-Child”

For those whose agency won't provide SSN, I'd contact the ombudsmen. You have a right to claim child so you have a right to it.



Keep in mind, the foster child inclusion happened within the last decade so many agencies haven't updated their rules. Although the conspiracy theorists in me might argue that they purposely allow bio parents to commit IRS fraud, and tell FPs that they can't claim the child in the hopes the bio parents will use the money for housing.

ETA: also, this is another one they try to sway you on. You per diem reimbursement does not count as income nor as the child's supporting themselves, see here: Publication 501 (2012), Exemptions, Standard Deduction, and Filing Information

Specifically:

Example 2.

You provided $3,000 toward your 10-year-old foster child's support for the year. The state government provided $4,000, which is considered support provided by the state, not by the child. See Support provided by the state (welfare, food benefits, housing, etc.) , later. Your foster child did not provide more than half of her own support for the year.

[F2AnJspCty]

Ok, what is an ATIN? My CPS CW also acted somewhat incredulous when I talked about claiming Honey Bun (born 11/6 arrived 11/16). She wrote a number on a post-it note that she *thinks* is her SS#. So, what is the ATIN and how do you get one?

[TemporaryMom]

Originally Posted by F2AnJspCty

Ok, what is an ATIN? My CPS CW also acted somewhat incredulous when I talked about claiming Honey Bun (born 11/6 arrived 11/16). She wrote a number on a post-it note that she *thinks* is her SS#. So, what is the ATIN and how do you get one?

From what I have read on here, that is to be used ONLY for adoption. WHen I had the girls, and I had to deal with the same incredulous and "you better check with a tax accountant" I finally had to get the number from the finance area at the county. So that may be an alternate option for you. That was only a short 3 years ago but I even went all the way up to the "rules" guy who finally admitted that he knew the IRS policy changed but because they didn't want to get into the area of "giving tax advice" they decided to not change the rule book.

The IRS doesn't willy nilly give deductions. Certainly there was a lot of discussion about the benefit of this deduction for foster parents.

As you can see here, the ATIN is clearly intended for adoptive placements only.

Adoption Taxpayer Identification Number

[elk134]

Also wanted to add, I noticed the residency test has changed slightly from previous years for children born during the year.

In the past, the child had to live with you the entire time they were alive if they were born during the year (and didn't live with you over half the year). Meaning if the infant lived with the bio parents for even a day, the child did not meet the residency test to be a qualifying child.

Now, however, it states that the child just had to be be with you over half the time he/she was alive. So this will greatly help many foster parents with infants. (This would have made a huge difference for us a couple years ago.)

[elizabeth30]

I asked my fs sw for his ss # after reading this thread. She said that she will give it to me if he has one and if not she will give me the paperwork to apply for one.

[DianeS]

I wanted to chime in to say that elk134 is correct. The rules for children who were born or died during the tax year were indeed changed on December 28, 2012.

The new paragraph reads:

Death or birth of child. A child who was born or died during the year is treated as having lived with you more than half the year if your home was the child's home more than half the time he or she was alive during the year. The same is true if the child lived with you more than half the year except for any required hospital stay following birth.

It can be found near the bottom of page 13 of this document: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p501.pdf

This is an AWESOME change!