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New Child Tax Credits

justmakingthebest's picture

Submitted by justmakingthebest on Fri, 06/25/2021 - 8:04am

I have reached out to my CPA but they are not even sure how this is actually going to work. Maybe you ladies have been able to find out more?

We get SS every other year. I get my bios every year (part of my divorce, I did not take alimony or retirement benefits - he is military and we were married more than 10 yrs). 

Last year we claimed SS, we got his stimulus $ in our tax return. 

We believe that since we claimed him last year, we will get the tax credit for him as well. You can't opt out of 1 of 3 kids. 

What I think will happen is that any return that we do get will just be reduced by $1500. That should be fine, on the years that we only have my bios we usually get around $3500-4000 back. 

My CPA said that I need to send BM the $250 every month since it is her $- I was like HELL NO! The IRS doesn't care that we sent it to her, they are still going to come back at us when she files. DH said he would not willingly pay her a dime unless she dragged him  back to court and he was ordered and then held in contempt and then threatened jail. Apparently he is serious about this LOL

Anyone have any idea how it is going to play out for families like ours that get the stepkids every other year? 

Comments

SteppedOut's picture

Submitted by SteppedOut on Fri, 06/25/2021 - 10:26am

Idk how it is all going to turn out. I would think they will reconcile based on 2021 taxes filed. If you got money and shouldn't have, it will reduce the amount of any refund. If you are not owed a refund... well, I'm not sure if they will make people pay back or not. I don't think they did with the stimulus funds? 

One thing for sure. I would strongly consider a new CPA after that crap advice. WTF

CLove's picture

Submitted by CLove on Fri, 06/25/2021 - 10:25am

My understanding is that you can opt out and then still file claiming whomever.

Its a pre-payment, so opting out of the prepayment doesnt mean that you cannot claim your kids when 2021 tax filing starts.

But we are in california, so I only researched about my state. When I opted out it only told me our eligibility. Which was based on previous tax filings with SD15. And it siad that once I opted out, I cannot un-opt out. Again I am thinking that it is the pre-payments. We can still claim her if something changes.

ndc's picture

Submitted by ndc on Sat, 06/26/2021 - 5:49am

The only thing I know is that there is no way in hell that sending the $250/mo to BM makes any sense at all. If the IRS sends you the money, keep it and prepare to send it back when you do your taxes next year. If she's entitled to it, she'll get it after she files her 2021 taxes. If you send her the $, you'll end up repaying the IRS and never seeing the $ back from BM when she gets it from the IRS. Your CPA is either dense and/or has no idea about BM.

BM here is entitled to claim YSD every year, and DH claims OSD.  She's signed the form for DH to claim YSD for the last couple years, which has worked out well because the Golden Goose make too much for them to qualify for the stimulus payments, so we've gotten all of them for both skids. We're going to opt out of the monthly Child Credit  payments for all 3 kids, though. I know us well enough to realize that we'll save a lump sum but spend the monthly payments, plus we don't want to risk having to repay anything if BM doesn't sign the form for YSD this year.