Will my mom claiming my daughter on taxes affect my CalWORKs Cash Aid?

This is a common question with potentially serious consequences. Someone else claiming your child on taxes doesn't automatically affect your CalWORKs eligibility, BUT it could create problems if the county investigates. For CalWORKs, what matters is who the child lives with the majority of the time and who has primary caretaking responsibility. If your mom claims your daughter but your daughter lives primarily with you, this creates conflicting information that could trigger a review of your case. The county might question whether your child actually lives with you or whether you've been reporting all household income correctly.

omg no dont let her do that!! my cousin let her mom claim her kid and then got a discontinuance notice saying she wasn't eligible anymore. took her 3 months to get benefits back and had to bring all kinds of proof the kid lived with her. not worth the headache!!!

The technical answer is that tax filing status and who claims a child as a dependent for IRS purposes is separate from CalWORKs eligibility determination. However, these systems do sometimes cross-check information. Your eligibility for CalWORKs is based on: 1. Your child living in your home 2. You having primary responsibility for their care 3. Meeting income/resource limits 4. Participation in WTW activities (unless exempt) If your mother claims your child for tax purposes, it creates a potential discrepancy that could lead to questions about your household composition. This could trigger an eligibility review where you'd need to prove your child lives with you. What I recommend: Talk to your mother about the risks this creates for your stability. While she might save a few hundred dollars on taxes, you could lose much more in Cash Aid if it creates complications.

I had a similar situation few years back. What they told me was that IRS and CalWORKs are different systems but they DO check against each other sometimes. Your mom claiming your daughter won't automatically cancel your benefits, but if they do a review, they're going to wonder why someone else is claiming to financially support your child when you're getting aid for her. Also remember that on your SAR7 and recertification forms, you have to report all income and support for your family. If your mom is providing significant financial support or childcare that you haven't reported, that could be an issue too.

wait whats the big deal?? taxes and welfare r totally diffrent things. my mom claimed my kid for years and i still got my calworks. nobody ever said anything about it

the WORST thing u can do with benefit programs is create conflicting info!!! i learned this the hard way. when different govt systems see different info about ur household they ALWAYS investigate and it's a NIGHTMARE to fix. if ur mom claims ur daughter, it looks like ur daughter is financially dependent on ur mom not u. thats exactly opposite of what ur telling calworks. even if ur technically following both systems rules (which im not sure u are) the conflict will cause problems!!!!!

To summarize what everyone's saying: While there's no automatic system that will immediately cut your benefits if your mother claims your child on taxes, it creates a contradiction that could cause problems. For CalWORKs, you're saying you have primary responsibility for your daughter. For IRS purposes, your mother would be claiming she provides more than half of your daughter's support. If you want to avoid potential complications with your benefits, the safest approach is to make sure your tax filing is consistent with what you report to CalWORKs. This means you should be the one claiming your daughter as a dependent.