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dependent benefits

My wife and I are divorced and I receive dependent benefits based on my disability. She needs to claim him on her taxes to get the child care tax credit. She pays for his insurance and day care. Do I have to claim him on my taxes in order to continue his benefits? I thought I would try here since I can't seem to find the answer.


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I could not find an answer for this. You will need to research further or seek other assistance.

I would say, however, that I have never seen reference in SSA documents to a requirement that one must claim a person as a dependent on their tax form to receive SSA benefits. However, SSA generally requires beneficiaries to provide updates upon life events (ex. moving, divorce etc.) so you'll want to be compliant there.

It seems like people (often divorced) often claim the same child as a dependent. The IRS has a well defined method to determine who gets to claim the child as a dependent :
http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=133298,00.html

If you don't meet any of the criteria to claim the child as a dependent, I can not recommend you claim the child as a dependent on your tax form, especially if your former spouse makes the claim.


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