"You can survive this. Talk to others that have"

Katz13 posted 12/21/2020 21:38 PM

Any advice on how to file taxes if you separated during the year? I always completed the tax forms for many years. I will not have access to his W2s. I am in our marital home. Since I'm living in it, can I get the tax credit for mortgage interest? I'm also primary caregiver of our child. Do I get the child credit? Our divorce isn't final so do I complete the paperwork as married filing separately? Should I just get someone else to do it even though our tax forms have always been quite straightforward?

leafields posted 12/22/2020 12:19 PM

If your STBXWH is willing, you could file together because you're still legally married, but you could also do the married filing separately. Whichever is more beneficial to you. Not sure about the mortgage interest and child credit, so hoping somebody will be able to provide that information for you.

My kids are grown, so I don't have a child credit. We sold our house, but it was paid off anyway. We decided to file jointly for 2020, just because it would be easier than filing separately. Because we sold the house, I'm going to have somebody help me with the taxes.

Ratpicker posted 12/22/2020 15:00 PM

My divorce was "pending" for 4 different years of tax filling. Because both names were on the mortgage and real estate taxes, the deductions would have been split 50/50 if filing seperately. My attorney suspected the pending situation would last a while, so he got it inserted into the temporary orders that taxes would be filled jointly until the divorce was final.

Temp orders required the X to pay for tax prep. I did the preparations the first year, met at the library to go over them prior to submitting online. The next year, it was too dicey to meet him in person as I knew he was wanting to take some questionable deductions. I didn't want to argue with him nor be responsible to IRS.

So he found a woman who worked year round for H & R Block. She met with both of us seperately. He paid her fee. That continued for 3 years of filling. She was a lovely, supportive help to me. I objected to all of his uniform dry cleaning deductions. She said it was authorized. I thought the total was high so she brought out all the receipts. All but one of the receipts had O'Whora's name at the top. Oops! No, he could not deduct those from our taxes. He wanted to deduct some uniform purchases. Those are allowed if they are specific uniforms- sold by the designated company. His receipts were for black slacks, socks & belts from JC Penney. JCP doesn't sell those uniforms. (He frequently bought knock offs that were machine washable- no dry cleaning charges for those either.) Tax lady learned real quick to double check everything he turned over.

Seems a lot of cheaters will cheat on taxes too!

messyleslie posted 12/23/2020 02:35 AM

I filed married filing separately. My ex is self employed and I knew he hadn’t been paying quarterly taxes and I didn’t want the tax liability. I was also a stay at home mom so I literally just put zero for the entire thing.

If it’s high conflict and you are trying to limit contact I would file married filing separately and just tell him what you think is fair. If you are paying for both house and taking care of the kids and he isn’t paying any support then I would claim both. If he is paying support I might offer him one or the other.

I know there is a tax benefit to filing jointily but it would have to be low conflict and worth it to my financially to actually work with an ex to save some money on taxes. I’m all about just chalk it up to another loss and move on as quickly as possible.

Fwiw I don’t know when the next stimulus check is coming but I am planning on filing my 2020 as soon as my last paycheck of the year comes in so that I can claim the kids (our divorce judgment says I can claim them) and get the $600 per kid, plus i don’t think he will even qualify based on income but I would. So that’s something to consider as well.

The1stWife posted 12/23/2020 05:21 AM

If the STBX spouse cheats on taxes then you are liable if you file a joint return.

DigitalSpyder posted 12/23/2020 08:59 AM

Any advice on how to file taxes if you separated during the year? I always completed the tax forms for many years. I will not have access to his W2s. I am in our marital home. Since I'm living in it, can I get the tax credit for mortgage interest? I'm also primary caregiver of our child. Do I get the child credit? Our divorce isn't final so do I complete the paperwork as married filing separately? Should I just get someone else to do it even though our tax forms have always been quite straightforward?

Do you have temp orders or a separation agreement in place that stipulates how taxes should be filed? If not, you may want to come to an agreement with your STBXS to avoid irritation down the road.

If you don't have access to the EX's W2s then you'll probably need to file married filing separately or Head of Household if you meet the requirements. I'd advise consulting a CPA as to what you can claim, but often who ever claims first win's out with the IRS from what I've seen.

StillLivin posted 12/24/2020 15:46 PM

I made sure it was in our LS agreement that we would file separately. My D was high conflict (entirely him), and I just didn't find the tax credit worth the abuse I would suffer trying to get him to cooperate.

katmandude54 posted 12/26/2020 06:18 AM

My STBXW refused to pay her share of the taxes since the year she moved out (2016) and stuck me with the entire thing each year through 2019, nearly $10,000 because due to her leaving we lost our $600,000 (WHICH SHE HAD TO HAVE AND DADDY GAVE HER a $200,000 DP for) to foreclosure and that jacked up the taxes for last year ($4,500). NOT THIS YEAR. The second I can I am filing as married filing single and she can go pound sand.

homewrecked2011 posted 12/30/2020 06:57 AM

If he’s been gone less than 6 months, I don’t know, you can call the IRS.,
If he’s been gone for 6 months, you can file Head of Household. Did you work in 2020? If so, you can file for Earned Income Tax Credits EITC if the child lived with you. And yes you can file for the child tax credits of $2,000 for each child.,very important:You get the credits(straight up money)-even if your taxes are low. (Ex: total tax is 1,500. Your credits are 6,000. You get 4,500. That’s why you hear people say the got back thousands in their taxes. They didn’t overpay, they got tons of credits which turned into straight up money back) this money is designed to help out single parents and low income parents. It’s how we survive divorcing cheating spouses and give our kids a chance at a better life). I’m not sure how the deduction on home interest works.

I’m not a tax person, but I filed my taxes since 2010 with a tax place. You can go online and file the way you usually do, I would think. It will ask you questions about filing HOH. I think you could secretly file, (perfectly legal since you have separate households, I would think) but keep stalling your xwh until you’ve got the cash in hand. Use the money to get a D from him. Also I would say to start filing this way ASAP , in my opinion, bc it will help with your child’s financial aid for college -if they are raised by a single parent. (Also, my xh got to claim 1 child in exchange for me getting the house. Guess what- I was legally allowed to file the EITC for both children because my children lived with me. And their FAFSA is also based on who they physically lived with.)

Again, I’m not a tax person, but this is what my tax person told me. If you have to file with him, in your legal separation or D you can put that he’s required to provide you his W2’s, and vice versa, I think.

rebplay posted 12/31/2020 00:04 AM

These are great comments. So still in divorce process. We both work full time. Would I make more filing separate head of household with dependent versus filing jointly? We both pay in to taxes and never owe.

The1stWife posted 12/31/2020 02:49 AM

You need to look at what you may owe and what your withholding was for 2020. You may owe if your withholding wasn’t enough or you could get a refund.