Children and Tax deductions?

[cerebrum]

I was reading a thread about whether a child should be born on the 30th of December or the 2nd of Jan.

What are the tax benifits of having a child before the new year?

I'm not from the states, so I dont really know your laws. This is really an interesting concept to me. Have children as tax deductions :)

[wring]

A child born before the end of the year is a tax deduction for the entire year. A child born on Jan 1, doesn't get claimed as a tax deduction until the next year's tax returns.

[Crafter_Man]

Originally posted by cerebrum
I was reading a thread about whether a child should be born on the 30th of December or the 2nd of Jan.

What are the tax benifits of having a child before the new year?

I'm not from the states, so I dont really know your laws. This is really an interesting concept to me. Have children as tax deductions :)

Hmmm. I would venture to say that few (if any) people have children for the sole purpose of reducing their taxes. I mean, if your goal in life is to reduce expenditures as much as possible, then you'll be way ahead by not having any children at all.

[Moirai]

True- however, it is a nice bonus to get that year's deduction for a child born at the end of the year! I know we enjoyed it.

Though I do know people who have gotten married in December for tax reasons.

[SmackFu]

Given that most states make you pro-rate deductions if you are only a partial-year resident, it's kind of surprising they don't do the same for children. After all they are only residents for part of the year. :)

[Danielinthewolvesden]

You get a deduction on your FIT for about $2800, which depending on your tax rate, should save you about $560. Depending on your Taxable income, you could likely also get a dolllar-for-dollar credit of some $500, thus a total savings of over $1000. Then, there is EIC (depending on income, will give lower income Taxpayers an additional refund of some $1000>2000), and even a deduction for the medical bills, possibly.

[ScoobyTX]

Originally posted by smackfu
Given that most states make you pro-rate deductions if you are only a partial-year resident, it's kind of surprising they don't do the same for children. After all they are only residents for part of the year. :)

This is for Fed Tax.

What? You want the incredibly convoluted tax codes to make sense?