Things to Consider When Filing Taxes After Your Divorce
Divorce teaches you a lot of things you never thought about before. You must depend on yourself for responsibilities that always fell to your spouse when you were married. There are people out there who first learned to drive after they got divorced, and some for whom divorce served as a motivation to learn to cook. It also highlights the many ways that life is unfair. No one cares that you are lonely and staring out the window at your neighbor’s Christmas tree while your kids spend the holiday with your ex. Your mutual friends are convinced that you are the one who ruined your marriage, and they refuse to listen to your side of the story. Perhaps the most disappointing news is all the ways in which Uncle Sam ensures that no divorced person claims more than his or her fair share of public funds. Yes, the court will award you alimony, but only to stop you from qualifying for Medicaid. Nowhere is this more obvious than when divorced people file for taxes. As tempting as it may be, it is pointless to think of filing for taxes as a zero-sum game where one ex-spouse wins and the other loses, because the IRS has things set up where you both lose. For help anticipating what filing taxes after divorce will be like, even before you contact an accountant, contact a Boca Raton divorce lawyer.
You Must File as Single for the Year in Which Your Divorce Became Final
Divorce Monday, the first business Monday in January, sees more divorce petitions reach the court than any other day of the year. This is because people want to make a clean break between tax years; they were married in 2024 and going through a divorce in 2025. The IRS does not see the point of Divorce Monday, though. It requires you to file as single for the year in which your divorce became final, even if the court finalized your divorce in December.
How to Decide Which Spouse Should Claim the Children as Dependents
Taxes are stressful, and parenting is stressful; put them together, and you have a perfect storm for conflict. If the parents are divorced, only one parent can claim the child as a dependent in any given tax year. Some divorced couples fight tooth and nail about it, each former spouse determined to benefit at the other’s expense. Others are more practical; they base their decision on what is most financially beneficial for the family overall. That usually means that the spouse with more parenting time claims the children, but sometimes it means that the higher income parent claims them. If the couple has two children, then one parent might claim the older child while the other claims the younger child. They might even alternate years in which each parent claims the children as dependents.
Contact Schwartz | White About Divorce and Taxes
A South Florida family law attorney can help you with the most annoying aspects of divorce, such as filing taxes. Contact Schwartz | White in Boca Raton, Florida about your case.
Source:
scarymommy.com/lifestyle/tax-tips-divorced-parents
