First Time Filing Taxes

“14.2 million children under age 13 met federal requirements for child-care subsidies in 2011-2012. Of that number, 8.6 million were eligible under state policies. Yet only 1.5 million children actually received the subsidies. That means only 10.6 percent of the number of children meeting federal guidelines actually get the subsidy” (Davidson 2017). The question that will be answered throughout this paper is, how accessible is childcare in the United States? Child care is the care of children by a day-care center, babysitter, or other provider while parent/ parents/ or legal guardian is working. The median household income for the United States is $53,8895 (Census Bureau) and the average cost of childcare is between $10,000 and $16,000 (Hamm 2015). This means that childcare can cost families making the median income 30% of their annual income. Given that this is the median household income, half of households have an income that is below this costing them more than 30% of their income. The United States has excellent child care that is affordable for some, however, most low-income families are unable to afford it.

Reynolds (2004) stated that five out of every six custodial parents are mothers, and he goes on to say that one out of three of those custodial parents receives a full payment averaging about five thousand dollars. Often times a judge makes the decision to grant custody to the mother based on the idea that a mother has a closer relationship with the child because of giving birth. However, it is important to remember as Smith (2003) reminds us that fathers love their children just as much as mothers, and to call them non-custodial parents is offensive. Often times when parents get divorced the mother has been a stay at home mom and the father has been the primary bread winner so, when a mom is awarded custody as you can imagine it becomes very difficult for her to balance the children and the one (or more) jobs that she has to work in order to support the family.

This is to help maintain the home for the child which many have misconstrued as monies for the parent. This has been an ongoing debate and non-custodial parents feel they should know where their money is being spent. Courts have opposed this as of today. When child support was introduced in 1975, many non-custodial parents would refuse to pay and many children were thrust into poverty. Currently, not paying child support according to Child Support Laws (2014),”made it a Federal crime to willfully fail to pay past-due child support payments.” Punishment can include loss of driver's license or passport, not able to obtain credit, and possibly not able to obtain

to 5:30 p.m. Monday to Friday with no weekends. The father stated that he would get a caretaker to be with the child when he is working. He would want her in a school primarily. He also has family here.

Section 152(a) provides that for a taxpayer to take a dependency exemption, the potential dependent must satisfy either the qualifying child requirement or the qualifying relative requirement. Section 152(b)(2) indicates that the taxpayer is not permitted a dependency exemption for a married dependent if the married individual files a joint return. Pursuant to section 152(c), the term “qualifying child” refers to an individual who has not furnished over one-half of his or her own support and who has not attained the age of 19 or who has not attained the age of 24, if a full-time student, as of the close of such calendar year. The term “qualifying relative” under section 152(d) includes, but is not limited to, an individual whose gross income is less than the exemption amount and to whom the taxpayer provides over-half of the total individual’s support for the calendar year in which such taxable year begins. Under Reg. Sec. 1.152 (a), support received from the taxpayer is compared to the entire amount of support which the potential dependent received from all sources, including support which the individual supplied himself. Support includes food, shelter, medical and dental care, education, recreation,

There shall be allowed as a deduction the expenses paid during the taxable year, not compensated for by insurance or otherwise, for medical care of the taxpayer, his spouse, or a dependent (as defined in section 152 , determined without regard to subsections (b)(1) , (b)(2), and (d)(1)(B) thereof), to the extent that such expenses exceed 7.5 percent of adjusted gross income.

Parents may claim a child tax credit for a dependent child who is 22 years of age at the end of the year if the child is a full-time student.

3. The 10 year old is classified as a qualifying child and can be claimed as a dependent because they under 19 years of age and lived with the parents for the full year

Alimony payments are deductible by the individual making the payments, and they are taxable income to the person receiving the payments. For divorce agreements executed after 1984, alimony payments must meet the following requirements:

The other option afforded to the Ouray’s is to file separately as a married couple. Filing separately can be advantages under special circumstances. However, if the couple was to file separately, there are several restrictions. First being, that if one spouse cannot demonstrate more than one-half of a child’s support is provided by them, a multiple-support agreement must be filed. Next, if one taxpayer itemizes their deductions they must both take itemized deduction and same goes if one person takes a standard deduction, the other must as well. If filing status was to be separate, neither spouse can claim the earned income credit and the credit for child and dependent care expenses. Next, no deduction is allowed for the interest paid on educations loans, and only $1,500 of excess capital losses can be claimed by each person.

If, the child does not go to school or has a doctor’s appointment BOTH must be

Divorce is not just a tough situation for the couples getting the divorce; it also has a large effect on any children involved in the divorce. When children are involved in a divorce, the first major impact they have to face is that child or children involved in the divorce losses time with each of the parents. In a non-divorced family on

Divorce rates in the United States have become extremely high and students everywhere are victims of divorce. But what effect does divorce have on children? Divorce affects the children in three ways. These three ways include emotionally, physically and academically.

Many noncustodial parents think that they are paying too much money for child support and that the courts were unfair to them. In general the courts will base

A parent whose partner has given birth is entitled to 2 weeks leave from work paid at statutory paternity leave, there is now an option for additional parental leave.