Monday, April 21, 2008

TAXES

There has been a lot of talk about claiming foster children on taxes. The biggest misconception is that you can not claim your foster child unless they have lived with you for 6 months out of the year; however, there are exceptions. Here is a letter I received from my accountant.


I read through the dependent rules again and I think I know why that person(s) thinks a foster child has to live with you for 6 months before you can claim him as a dependent.

One of the rules for a ‘qualifying’ child (who can be your birth child, or adopted, or foster, or grandchild etc…) is that he/she has to have lived with you for at least 6 months of the year. For example, say a grandchild lives with one set of grandparents for 5 ½ months and the other grandparents for 6 ½ months. He can be claimed as a dependent only by one set of grandparents, the ones who had him more than 6 months. The rule prevents more than one person claiming the same child for the same year.

BUT, there are several exceptions to the 6 month rule for qualifying children, and the exception that applies here is for a child born or died during the year. He is treated as being with you for the whole year, even if he was born on Dec. 31. I think the person who did all the research didn’t read about the exceptions. There is no place in the tax rules that says differently than what I just explained. Now, if the foster child is 5 years old and he came to live with you in Aug., THEN he wouldn’t have been with you for 6 months and you couldn’t claim him as a dependent until the following year.

Little Bit is your dependent for 2007.

Tell your friends about the exception – they can amend their tax returns!!

Tuesday, April 08, 2008

Happy Birthday Candy- (belated)

Sorry I'm so late!!!!
I hope you forgive me.
I'm glad you had a great day!!!!

Love

R

Thursday, April 03, 2008

Blogging

It’s funny how I read everyone else’s blog once or twice a day and I don’t ever seem to be consistent writing my own. Maybe it’s because that is what I need from this community; the sense of knowing there are others just like me…..

Anyway, we went to Florida for spring break and met my parent and my brother and his family. My parents rented a house, it was very nice. We had our own pool and hot tub. There were no major fights or arguments. However, it wasn’t as fun as it could have been. My brother is a manic depressive and he is either manic or depressive. Therefore, while he is manic he talks too much and cleans all the time. When he is depressive he is just a grumpy old ass; he is also sometimes mean to my nephew which is hard for me to watch. He tried; I give him credit for that much. I don’t necessarily think that any one person in my family is really all that annoying, you just can’t put us all together LOL!

I’m sure a lot of people could say that about their families. However, my family has a deep, dark, history that I never really discuss. Most people probably think it is out of embarrassment, but really it is out of loyalty. Or maybe it is because I don’t know where to begin, or when I do start talking about it I can’t seem to stop; not to mention that it is almost unbelievable. One day I am sure I will post it on my site if only to try to learn from it.

No news on the foster front. We are meeting with Little Bits worker tomorrow, I’m sure it is just a regular visit, but maybe we will find out if he has a court date set up. He has been with us for almost 6 months! He is the happiest baby I have ever seen. He smiles at everyone and it is so contagious: )

Our baby girl is a month old and is becoming more and more alert. She looks like a doll and is just a sweet little girl. She sleeps and eats well. She sometimes smiles in her sleep and we just melt. Her mother has made no contact with OCS and they do not have any contact information on her.

We have 8 more weeks of school left. My co-teacher and I have not been getting along. She wants to be/thinks she is my boss and she is not. She is acting very unprofessional and inappropriate around our students. Today she was telling a student that he could not keep a water bottle in class with him. I would agree usually except that the assistant principal had already said they could if they were on the track team to keep hydrated. So she sent this student to me to tell me she didn’t believe this to be true!!!! She should have gone to the assistant principal if she needs clarification, not to me. She is picking on the track runners because I am their coach and that is not fair to them. She also called me a liar in her class to our students. She is out of control. I know she has a lot going on personally, but get a grip lady!!!!!!