The Federal Tax Credits Blog

Posts Tagged ‘child tax credits’

Question: Questions about the IRS Stimulus Payment?

We claimed our 18-year-old student son (he had turned 18 in December of 2007) on our federal income taxes. We are not entitled to the child credit for him because of his age, so it is my understanding that we don’t get credit for him for the stimulus payment either. However, he made over the $3,000 minimum to get a payment himself and filed his own tax return. When checking with the IRS it informs us that he is not entitled to the stimulus payment because we claimed him on our tax return, and we are not entitled because we couldn’t claim him as a “child”. So, does no one get money for him? And is this right? And does anybody actually have a phone number for the IRS where you can actually get in contact with a live person?

Answer: Try this number to. 1(866) 234-2942, keep pushing 0 and sometime in the next hour or two, you should get A live person. Good Luck

Question: Is it possible for a greater tax refund (due to credits) then the amount that was actually taken?

By taking the following credits:

Credit for Child Care Expense
child tax credit
Earned Income Credit
Additional child tax credit

while claiming Head of Household, I am calculating a refund greater then what was taken out of my paycheck last year. Is this possible??? Everything mentioned above are valid credits that I am entitled to.

Answer: With the earned income credit you can get back more than you paid. There is even a form you can fill out that will let you get it added to each paycheck.

Super-rich have seen their tax liability tumble

The super rich pay a lot less taxes than they did a couple of decades ago, and nearly half of U.S. households pay no income taxes at all.

Tax Tip for 2010 #5 of 20

Question: A question for Canadian tax pro’s! New baby and single!?

My daughter was born in October and either me or my ex is going to claim her on our taxes. We still get along great and he even stays with us from time to time. He is a great and supportive daddy and is always there for us and does his best to make sure we have everything we need, We are in the process of trying to work things out but for now it is purely platonic and we are just friends. I was thinking of allowing him to claim her this year and next year I claim her and so on and such forth. My only issue is that I claim her for child tax credit and the Universal benifit as well and get monthly payments from them for her. Will this be an issue if he claims her this year? Is this even allowed? We are not common law or anything at this point so I don’t know if they would make a big stink about that either. Please as much advice and knowledge you can give would be greatly appreciated!!

Answer: Because the child lived with you during the year, the father is not eligible to claim the credit. However, if you want him to receive the benefit of the claim, you can just write him a cheque for $305.70 as this is the amount that he would have saved on his taxes if he were eligible to make the claim.

You should also be claiming the “amount for an eligible dependent” tax credit from line 305 on schedule 1.

It should also be pointed out that in order to get any benefit from these tax credits your taxable income for 2008 has to be more than $9,600, otherwise your income will be too low to be able to make use of the credits.

For Members

My name is Charles Donovan. I am Senior Research Fellow at The Heritage Foundation. The views I express in this testimony are my own and should not be construed as representing any official position of The Heritage Foundation.

China’s One-Child Policy Comes To Western Countries

Question: I’m 34 year old and start a 3 year honours degree course on Monday?

I have a 17 year old daughter who too has remained at school to further her education..I’m currently in reciept of child tax credits and child benefit for her..This past year i’ve been unable to work due to having 2 disabled ill parents so all I have been in reciept of is jobseekers allowance…I put in an application for student finances yesterday to assist with paying for my course fees…I live in private rented accomodation with my daughter but i’m unsure if I will get any financial assistance with paying my rent and council tax or will I have to pay them in full as I also have to drive 50 miles to and 50 miles from my college 3 times a week….If anyone has been in a similar situation or has any knowledge of what help is available for mature students could you please give me some useful info as i’m starting to think i’m getting out of my depth financially…Thank you

Answer: First stop should be the student money advice office at your uni as they will be able to tell you everything you need to know.

Are you a single parent? As a single parent student you cannot claim income support as they consider the maintenance loan an alternative source of income available to you wether you claim it or not. This loan is currently around £4, 500 pa. You are eligible for a parent learning allowance of about £1,500 pa. In Wales you can get a Welsh Assembly Grant that is worth up to almost £3,000 pa. You should be able to get tuition fee loans too. Most single parent FT students are eligible for housing benefit but it may not cover the rent fully. Some areas refuse this benefit but your uni finance office can fight for it for you and they will win. They know their stuff! You can continue to claim child tax credit and they told me my wages went down as nothing and student loans etc not counted tho you must inform them. You should get max amount. I’m told it’s possible to get some help from income support but you have to declare loans and I don’t know of any real person who has received such assistance. I haven’t been eligible for all of the loans etc and have managed to get by due to the help of the Uni Hardship Fund who have been fantastic. I’m only in my second year. It’s not easy but it is possible. Hardship funds can’t guarantee you money but you will be high priority as you have dependants. Some uni’s offer grants too (often around £1,000 pa) and there are sometimes bursaries that can be applied for. It all helps.

You CAN get income support for most (not all) of the summer break. You can still get child benefit. All students are exempt from paying council tax. They take into account any maintenance loan you are eligible to receive wether you apply for it or not so apply for full loans. Income support is only payable to people who have no other means of support and whilst it seems unfair to classify a loan as ‘other means of support’ that is how the law sees it. I tried fighting this to no avail.

It is possible to negotiate a slightly higher free student overdraft if you’ve been with the same bank a long time and have a good record but be very wary of their ’student loans’ they might try and talk you into as they cost a lot in the end. My bank also upped my credit card limit to six times the amount it was when I was working!! Try to avoid using this credit and get as much assistance from your uni as you can.

I also travel 50+ miles each way 3-5 times a week and Uni Hardship Fund have helped tremendously with petrol and car maintenance costs. They are fantastic so talk to them at your uni as soon as possible.

Talk to the student money advice team about the possibility of getting some kind of disability / attendance allowance if you or your daughter are spending time looking after your parents.

US Tax Refunds Rise,

The Obama administration has announced that average income tax refunds from 2009 tax returns are up nearly 10% to just over USD3,000 because of the various tax benefits provided in last year’s Recovery Act.

Question: Question about childcare element of child tax credits in the UK?

Lone parent on a salary of £14000

Registered childcare of £150 per week paid to childminder

What percentage of my childcare costs would be paid by the childcare element of the child tax credits in the UK?

I have heard it would be 80% but I would like some informed opinions.

What would this percentage be if my childcare costs were reduced to £100 per week.

Any assistance appreciated!

Answer: Ring up the tax credits and ask them as everyones entitlement is different.

Use all your tax credits or you’re going to lose them

Credit is pretty tough to come by these days — unless it’s tax credits. There are more tax credits available this year than ever before; more than 25 of them.

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The Baby Boon: How Family-Friendly America Cheats the Childless $2.99 Tax credits, childcare benefits, school vouchers, flextime for parents, parental leaves–all have spawned what journalist Elinor Burkett calls a “culture of parental privilege.” The Baby Boon charts the backlash against this movement and asks for a reevaluation of social policy. Burkett’s cause isn’t served by her sarcasm, which leads so easily to exaggeration and strained humor. She proposes, for…

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