DW e-filed our taxes late yesterday morning. Then she checked the status of our e-file at around 9:00 last evening. She found out that our filing had been rejected. The reason for the rejection was that someone else had used DS1's name and SSN as a dependent. DS1 is our son whom we adopted last month.
Before DS1 came to us as a foster child last April, at least five different adult people probably had access to his SSN.
We provided care for him for 8 1/2 months in 2011. We meet all qualifications to claim him as a dependent.
I guess the bottom line is that this will slow our tax refund down substantially. We will need to now file the old fashioned way, and prove our case. While I was really counting on the money, it will eventually work its way out.
We filed our taxes - Then things got complicated!
January 24th, 2012 at 01:42 pm
January 24th, 2012 at 01:56 pm 1327413389
Usually whoever files first, wins. But this is a unique situation. It will take a LONG time to resolve this with the IRS just for fair warning. Of course, I would probably just send them a letter with some proof that you are the sole guardians. Send it with your tax return, and keep a copy because you will probably just get another notice about it. Whoever processes the actual tax return won't resolve it, so they will probably send you a notice. It literally might take a year to resolve this. If not longer. Their backlog is huge right now. I would be willing to help you out if you can't resolve it on your own. Just keep that in mind. (As a tax preparer I have a super secret hotline to resolve things like this).
January 24th, 2012 at 01:57 pm 1327413430
January 24th, 2012 at 02:08 pm 1327414080
Good luck!!
January 24th, 2012 at 03:37 pm 1327419444
January 24th, 2012 at 05:21 pm 1327425708
Come to think of it, I've heard of this happening to custodial parents in divorce, even when no child support was paid, the non-contributing parent claiming the tax benefits. So I guess the IRS is well-accustomed to reviewing such matters when there are conflicting claims. But you must have been expecting some adoption credit, too. Double whammy!