What to do?

[georgiamom41]

My STBX and were only seperted for 43 days at the end of the tax year.

My 17 year old daughter chose to live with her dad and that's fine.

Hope someone can provide some guidance before I have to spend yet even more on another lawyer,

He took all documents with him and only now informed me that he filed his taxes already, married filing seperatily and itemized (in Jan.) and claimed her as a dependant and claimed the mortage interest.

We are both on the home and on the loan.  She lived with both of us.

I know I have to file married seperate and itemize, but can I also claim the interest and her if he already did?  Will that flag his return?  Do I also file as he did?

As it stands now without those, I will get $32 back.  Our joint refund last year was 27K

The mortage was paid from a joint account.  Granted all of my pay did not go into the account, but it was a joint account.

I'm at a loss as to what to do.  There is no communication and we go to mediation March 3.

[TC]

Mercy, what a mess.

I honestly do not know what you should do other than talk to a tax specialist....however, there is a lady here, Lifealittle who is pretty sharp with the tax stuff.  I'll send her a PM and ask her to drop you a note.

TC

[livealittle]

I really think you need to see your attorney who is handling your divorce, and a CPA. yes, you will have to spend money for this, but this is a big deal that affects you both for the next few years.

It appears from your post that your stbx basically 'ambushed' you by filing first and in a way the 'hurts' you financially. I went to the IRS website and read the section in publication 501 on filing status. pgs 5-8. I used to work at a CPA firm and prepared tax returns. I work as a corporate accountant now and don't have access to all the research software I used to.

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p501.pdf is the link to Pub 501.

your attorney may be able to help you here by filing motions for him to provide you with copies of the paperwork you say he took. You also need to get copies of the past few years tax returns, this way you at least have an idea of who the normal companies are you should have 1099, 1098, and W-2 forms from. At age 17, your child qualifys as a dependent for some things but not for others. I don't remember it all clearly, but for some credits children up to age 13 are considered children, for other credits it's 17-18, for others it's 21 - and these rules change all the time.

It may be in your best interest to file an extension until you can get before a judge to have one rule on how your stbx should behave with regards to this. The IRS even says to check both ways to file your return and file the way that gives you the lowest tax liability. So, if you stbx is filing in a way that gives him and you a higher tax liability, it's just to "spite" you.

[georgiamom41]

Thank you!

I am meeting with my attorney and found a CPA who specializes in divorce as a favor from a friend.

And yes, it's spite.  I kissed him goodbye the in the morning in Nov. no clue, and came home, he had cleaned out half the home and set himself up in a new apt.

He makes over 100k, I make 25.

It's been a lifetime movie script.

I really appreciate the point in the right direction!

I will let you know what I find out in case it will help anyone else.

Georgia