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Last year, we were told you could, as long as they have been in your home six months, but ours hadn't at that time. This year, the woman that is preparing our taxes just called and said although they have both been in our care over six months, we cannot claim them unless they have a social security number. They don't have social security numbers. They are babies and have been with us since early on. Anyone know anything about this?
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They have to have a social security number to be claimed on your taxes. Chances are they DO have numbers, but you haven't been told. I believe you need a SS number to have Medicaid, for example. Maybe it's needed for WIC, too. And in many states, the SS # functions as their individual ID number in the foster care system - though many case workers don't know that. The SS numbers are usually filed for by the hospital staff when the babies are born - right along with filling out th ebirth certificate. If you have anything that lists their full legal names, you can usually take it down to the SS office and ask what the numbers are - if they can find the kids in their system, they'll tell you the numbers. If they really don't have social security numbers, someone NEEDS to file the papers to get those. The children's caseworkers need to get on the ball and get them.
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It's not 6m & 1 day, it's 183 days (365/2 + 1). If they are less than 6m old and they came to your home from the hospital then you can also claim them. However, if they went home with anyone else and then came to you then you can't claim them.Yes, they do have to have SSNs. So you will need to get them from the CW. If the kids came into care at birth DHS would have filed for a SSN. Also, at this point the BPs may have claimed them, which would make yours rejected if you efile. Then you would have to paper file with proof that you've had them for the alloted amount of time.
If the children do not have SS #'s (I had one that did not), the social worker can give you a Tax Identification Number that can be used in place of the SS #, for the purposes of claiming the child on taxes. One of my now AD's used a TIN for 2 yrs. After I adopted her, I got her an actual ss number.
uh guys....my L did NOT have a SSN when she came to me, so it IS possible. But there was also a mistake with the BC...as in she didn't have one done either. So no BC no SSN either....SS looked and no she didn't have one when I asked. They would have needed a tax ID number. That's what I'm using for L even though she has been adopted but I could not get a SSN without an amended birth certificate and it just came in the mail this week.
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Our AS and our STBAD came to us as newborns and neither was assigned a SS# prior to adoption. Both CWs told us they knew they'd get new ones so they just never filled out the paperwork. For my AS we ammended our taxes after adoption, we plan to do the same thing for STBAD. It is possible and happens, more than once in our case.
Just wanted to back up what ImpactingLives mentioned. The 6 month rule generally doesn't apply to a baby born during the tax year. Technically, any baby can be claimed by SOMEONE as a qualifying dependent even if they were born at 11:59 pm on December 31st. Whether they are biological, adopted, or foster. The 6 month rule is designed to prevent more than one tax payer from claiming the same child as a dependent.
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You don't get to claim them. It has to be the majority of the tax year, so the six months and a day have to all fall in 2012. This is actually the first time I will get to claim foster kids as I have had some longer than six months before, but they have not been here six months in a given year---until this year I actually have two. One I got June 29th and I insisted that if they were going to place her with me it had to be before July 1st, so that I would be able to claim her if she was still here at the end of 2012 (which she is).
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