Divorce question Preface: We (the soon to be ex and myself) have an agreement to each claim 1 child as a dependent in 2015 My CPA tells me that I (neither of us) cannot claim head of household since we were married ( still are) for 2015. He says we can only claim married filing separately. Her tax guy says she can claim head of household. but only one of us get to claim HOH We were apart 6 months + 1 week when she moved out. We are living in separate houses. If she can claim, why can't I? We are both claiming one dependent. Which of our tax guys are correct?
I'm with Dits. Filing jointly with the 2 dependents seems like the logical, and easiest. Even if you are expecting a refund, it's gravy. Split it or give it away and move on.
Neither of us can stand the other right now. I don't want ANYTHING to do with her. I just want to move on. ...
File separately if ya want my two cents. Joint may put your combined incomes in a higher bracket. Aka you may pay in more. While we were divorcing we filed joint one last time in 13. And I think I would have gotten a bunch back and she would have paid in if we filed separately. This year is my second year being free. I file with just my income. Married we'd get little back or owe. Single I'm getting very nice returns. This years return will pay off my car. Also alimony is deductible. Child support isn't. Something to consider as you negotiate your settlement. She has to declare the alimony as income. Works in your favor.
Are you saying that defiantly, or are you saying that's been already negotiated? Oh and I'm not a CPA, but my Brother is...and he does my taxes, and he's the one that educated me on the different ins and outs after I agreed to a last joint filing in 2013 like an idiot.
Now paying one or the other's lawyer costs I do NOT agree with. That's just BS. But this is divorce...meaning You're probably going to lose some shit in this. And you're sounding like you're in the early denial/angry/bitter stages of the process with the "Hell's gonna freeze over first" statement. Divorce is about money. No more..no less. The relationship is over. We're past that. Now it's about what you can salvage. She's probably got a lawyer pissing in her hear about what she's "entitled" to for being your wife after all these years. Been there..done that. You're house, 401k, IRAs, savings, checking, cars, bikes...all could be considered fair game. So if you're going to end up paying her something every month, why not make it so you don't get to pay her AND pay the taxes on the money? At least make it work for you SOMEHOW. I'm just trying to help
Trust me, I am well aware of all of this. $o far, we are about $45k aware of this due to her wanting more than what she is entitle to. She does not see (or will not admit) her lawyer is milking her and in turn, that is milking me. Just a game to the lawyers. they get rich. I see it, she doesn't now, most anything she giets from me will pass to her lawyer, so she is fighting to get more. I tried to settle months ago. I could see it all coming down the road