Hi, I just found out that my parents claimed me as a tax deduction for last year. I am a former foster kid who hasn’t talked to my parents in two years and it angers me that they’re still using me for their benefit, without supporting me even $1. What can I do? I haven’t even lived in the same state!
How do you know they are claiming you? Are you over 18?
If you are over 18, I don’t think they can claim you if you don’t live with them and they don’t provide half of your support. Just claim yourself with a different address and the IRS should flag it.
If you want to send a letter to the IRS turning them in, there may be some kind of a reward. I don’t think it’s worth THAT much money though, so don’t expect a big reward.
https://www.irs.gov/uac/whistleblower-informant-award
Whatever you do don’t extort them. That will land YOU in prison.
If you file a tax return and claim the exemption for yourself, both returns (yours and theirs) will be flagged. The IRS will then disallow the claim for the exemption to the party who isn’t entitled to it.
I don’t like to be an alarmist, but if you were in foster care, you might want to look into having your SSN changed. The SSA doesn’t like to do it, and it takes some persistence, but kids being adopted out of foster care or leaving foster care have been been successful. Their numbers have been written on so many forms and so many people have the information. Often credit cards are opened in their names. If you can do this, then your family can’t use your SSN on taxes anymore.
Even if you don’t change the SSN, you should put a freeze on it. You don’t want people taking out loans or credit cards under your name.
Do you work? If so, are you claiming yourself? If you file your taxes before they do, and you claim yourself, I wonder if that would cause their attempt to get questioned.
@BelknapPoint what do you think?
Yes, two exemptions being claimed for the same person will raise a flag with the IRS. OP doesn’t provide a lot of information, but what little is disclosed makes me think that the parents have no legal right to claim the exemption in the first place.
OP, how did you find out? Unless one of them, or their tax accountant, told you it may just be gossip.
@TomSrOfBoston when I filed taxes using TurboTax or something several years ago, my parents had claimed me when they should not have. I was alerted when I tried to file my taxes as an independent. (They went back and changed their tax forms.) I’m sure it hasn’t gotten less technological since then.
So no, it doesn’t have to be gossip or anything of the like.
I used the wrong SSN for one of my kids one year. They disallowed all exemptions and credits related to her and sent me a big bill. It took just a phone call to fix it but it came back to haunt me 3 years later when the state sent me a bill (our state returns are based off the federal). I had to get a tax transcript from the feds and send it to the state.
Right now if someone steals your SSN and files a return and you later file your return, it will halt both returns. If both parents claim a child, those returns will be stopped. It happens pretty regularly.
<<<
what little is disclosed makes me think that the parents have no legal right to claim the exemption in the first place.
[QUOTE=""]
[/QUOTE]
Right.
It sounds like this student was removed from his parents’ home several years ago for his protection…and was placed in foster care.
Now that he’s out of foster care and going to college, he’s found out that his parents have been claiming him…which obviously they have no right to do since they’ve not been supporting him (as the student states) or living with him or anything since he went into foster care.
I’m guessing that the student found out when he tried to file his own taxes and claim himself…or maybe he tried to file FAFSA as “independent” and somehow verification triggered because his SSN is showing up on parents’ taxes. ???
If the problem is that he can’t file taxes and claim himself right now, I don’t know what the fix is. For future years, he should file ASAP, claim himself, get his tax refund quickly, and then if they try to claim him again, they’ll learn they can’t do that.
@BelknapPoint what would happen in the above scenario? Would the student also be contacted even after he filed and got his tax refund? Or would just the parents? If he also gets contacted, would he just submit an explanation and evidence that he doesn’t live with them?
Thank you for the advice. I found out because I was trying to get financial aid from my college, and The Fafsa wouldn’t give me anything… I had to order a transcript from the IRS, and admit I was pretty hurt that they claim me but don’t care about me. I have been living with friends, and they’ve supported me for two years. I’m getting another job though, so maybe the IRS will see that I’m on my own now. But I’m happy to write a letter and explain it. If they do it for 2017, I may change my social. Thanks for your support!
Your FAFSA doesn’t “give you anything”. It’s a financial,aid application form.
Are you saying your foster parents claimed you? Or are you saying your biological parents claimed you?
Regardless…I believe if you were in foster care, you would be independent for financial aid purposes…and the FAFSA would not have wanted any parent information.
When you requested a tax transcript…are you saying you got your foster parent or bio parent tax transcript?