1. Home
  2. Taxes General Forum
  3. mistake on tax refunds, says dependants are sons and daugther buy they arent!!

mistake on tax refunds, says dependants are sons and daugther buy they arent!!

Hi everyone, i would like to know if you guys can help me with this situation. My husband has filed taxes with h&r block for the last three years, he has a brother who has 8 kids and cannot take care for all of them. So his other siblings including my husband help them with most of the kids expenses all the time, so at the end of the year he could be able to claim them as dependants right? But looking through his tax refunds, next to the name of each kid (three in total), it says their relationship with my husband is son, son, daughter grrrr!! My husband tells me it was his mom mistake when they first filed for the kids, and he has not felt like correcting them, because he thinks he can get in trouble for lying the irs, going to prission or endding up owing the irs thousands of dollars... i really need his tax refunds to be corrected but i dont want him to get in trouble. Of course nobody else in his family carry this kids so i think they should take it as a simple mistake and he should not get in any trouble, i mean.. he really takes care of this kids. Im sorry for the long post, does anybody know what can happen to him? or what should we do to amend his taxes? and if there is going to be serious consequences for this?

Thank you so much in any advice.

Reply to
ladygomez755
Loading thread data ...

I've peeked ahead, and I see you never tell us whether you're talking about his separate return or whether you file jointly. If it's the latter, we're not talking about "his" taxes, we're talking about "your" taxes. Keep that in mind regarding your 2008 return.

What you describe is called fraud. The consequences of fessing up, filing amended returns and paying what's due are certainly no more severe than what happens when the IRS catches on by itself. While I doubt there would actually be a criminal prosecution, there's no guarantee.

If you've been filing joint returns you have as much say in this as he does. Beyond that we're into the area of marriage counseling.

If you've not been filing joint returns the financial blow of correcting this could be eased by making the amended returns joint.

(I'm assuming the two of you have been legally married throughout this.)

Reply to
Phil Marti

Fraud - where's the fraud? It is possible to claim a niece or nephew as a dependent. Listing an incorrect relationship where the correct relationship also qualifies is an error, not fraud. The OP indicated that the siblings of the father "help out" (apparently financially) so a multiple-support arrangement may also exist.

For there to be fraud, the taxpayer claiming the dependent has to [reasonably] know that he's not entitled to claim the person so claimed. I don't see that here. I do see a question of whether he's entitled not fully answered, but I also don't see the information as disqualifying him either.

If "HE"'s filing, I see this as married filing separate. Perhaps that needs to be clarified too.

Reply to
D. Stussy

I agree with D. Stussy. However, there is another issue. It is not stated, but it appears that these children are residing with their father. If this is the case and if the father is filing a tax return, these children are the qualifying children (assuming age requirements are met) of their father. As such, this taxpayer could not claim them as dependents regardless as to the amount paid for their support. You can't claim another person as a qualifying relative who is the qualifying child of another taxpayer.

Reply to
Alan

No, that is not the case, i am sorry for not making it cleat, i have been living with him all this time, but we Just got Married, he already got his 2008 returns, before we got married, so we do not file taxes jointly, i do not even file taxes because i do not work, or have any source of income. But we may need his taxes corrected for different reasons. I just feel that it would be unfair for him to get in trouble since this is last thing i want.

Reply to
leidy755

BeanSmart website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.