<p>My only custodial parent is my mother -- she has three kids including me. My ex-step-father is claiming both my brother and my sister on his taxes this year, while my mother will be claiming me. </p>
<p>My parents have taken nearly equal care of us, it's just the uneven amount of kids makes us have to split it some way. After this year, he will probably claim just my brother, and my mom with claim my sister and I.</p>
<p>So when we fill out FAFSA, is my mom only allowed to claim the children she claimed on her taxes as part of her household, or is she allowed to claim all three of us?</p>
<p>If this is allowed, is there anything we can do in advance to prevent being audited?</p>
<p>If your siblings live with your mother more than their father, then yes, they are part of her family for FAFSA. Claiming children for tax purposes is specifically allowed by the tax code as an exception to the requirement that the claimed dependent must spend more than 1/2 the time in the household and that the one claiming the deduction must have provided more than half the support. Parents are allowed to ‘assign’ the tax exemption to the other parent.</p>
<p>FAFSA isn’t so generous. It says that where the person (in this case your siblings) spend more than half the year is the home. It sounds like you, your mother, and your siblings are your mother’s household.</p>
<p>@twoinanddone I am a little confused about your response. I’m going to say what I understood and perhaps you could verify with me?:-)</p>
<p>So, what you mean is FAFSA defines a household as the inhabitants of the house for more than 1/2 of the year, but taxes do not require children to have stayed in that household for 1/2 the year. So, my ex-step-father can claim my brother and sister and get his refund for them on his taxes, while my mother claims them as part of her household on FAFSA because they have stayed with her for more than 1/2 the year. </p>
<p>What do you mean by assigning a tax exemption… would my mother claim my siblings, but then assign the exemption to my ex-step-father?</p>
<p>Thank you so much for the help, I really appreciate it!</p>
<p>“Dependents” for tax purposes is not the same thing as “dependents” for FAFSA</p>
<p>When you fill out the FAFSA, it does not matter who claims the children for tax purposes. What matters is who they live with. Your stepfather can claim them on taxes, but if they live with your mother for more than half of the year (for example, they live with her but go to stay with their father on weekends or every other week), then they can also be claimed as dependents on your FAFSA IF they live with her more often than they live with their father…</p>
<p>“Assigning them” for tax purposes is a choice. The parents get to “assign” or decide, which parent claims which children for tax purposes. There is no choice when it comes to claiming children for FAFSA. FOR THAT PURPOSE ONLY children are the dependent of the parent they live with for the majority of the time.</p>
<p>Yes, that’s it. For tax purposes, in order to claim someone as a dependent, that person must have lived with you for more than half the year and you must have provided more than half the support. A big exception is for a child. In that case only, the parents (or sometimes the court does it for them) can decide that the dependent child is allowed to be claimed by a parent with whom the child hasn’t spent more than half the time or the parent hasn’t provided more than half the support. Any other person? Nope, have to meet the IRS requirements.</p>
<p>This is common for parents to do. Some each take one child as a dependent so both parents get to claim head of household or because they really do split 50/50 so it is fair. Don’t worry about why, just know that FAFSA has a different definition and it is the child spends more time with the claiming parent than with any other person.</p>