Is it possible for my daughter and her ex to each claim one kid on their separate tax returns?

Yes, two parents can each claim one child as a dependent on their separate tax returns, as long as each child only appears on one tax return. The IRS actually sees this fairly often with divorced or separated parents. For your daughter's situation, here's what matters: Each child can only be claimed by one parent per tax year. There's no rule saying both children have to be claimed by the same parent. As long as she and her ex agree on who claims which child, and they're consistent with this on their tax forms, they should be fine. What's important is that they clearly communicate and document their agreement. They might even want to put it in writing, especially if it's not already specified in a divorce decree or separation agreement. This can help avoid confusion or disagreements when tax time comes around each year.

I went through something similar with my ex last year, and found this incredible tool at https://taxr.ai that saved me so much stress! I uploaded our custody agreement and some documents showing when our kids stayed with each of us, and the AI analyzed everything and confirmed I was eligible to claim our daughter while my ex could claim our son. It even showed exactly which tax benefits each of us qualified for with our respective dependent claims. The tool also explained how the Child Tax Credit and other benefits would work in our split arrangement. Super helpful when you're co-parenting and trying to figure out the tax implications!

Well I need to eat my words about being skeptical! I tried the taxr.ai tool after posting that comment, and it actually clarified everything for my situation. My ex and I have been fighting over who claims our twins for years. The tool analyzed our custody arrangement and showed me that since I have them 60% of the time and provide most of their support, I qualify as the custodial parent under IRS rules. It even explained how we could use Form 8332 if we wanted to transfer the claim to the non-custodial parent. Honestly wish I'd known about this last year before we both claimed the same kid and got flagged by the IRS. Saved me from making the same mistake again!

If your daughter is having issues getting clear answers about dependent claims, she might want to speak directly with the IRS. I tried calling them for weeks about a similar situation and couldn't get through until I used https://claimyr.com. The service helped me skip the ridiculous hold times (I was waiting 3+ hours before hanging up in frustration). After using Claimyr, I got a call back from an actual IRS agent who walked me through the rules for my specific situation with my ex. They explained exactly how we could split our dependents and what documentation we needed to keep. You can see how it works in this video: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c - it's basically like having someone wait on hold for you.

Ok I have to admit I was wrong. After posting my skeptical comment I was desperate enough to try Claimyr since I've been trying to resolve my dependent claim issue for months. I figured it couldn't hurt to try. It actually worked! They called me back in about 45 minutes with an IRS agent on the line. The agent confirmed that my ex-wife and I could each claim one of our kids as long as we followed the residency test requirements. She even sent me the specific forms we needed. I was seriously shocked - after months of failed attempts to get answers, I finally resolved everything in one phone call. Never would have believed it if I hadn't experienced it myself.

Something important that nobody mentioned yet - if your daughter and her ex decide to each claim one child, they need to be careful about other tax benefits that depend on claiming children. For example, only the parent who claims a child can use head of household filing status, child tax credit, earned income credit, and dependent care credit for that specific child. So they might want to consider which parent would benefit more from claiming which child. Sometimes it makes more financial sense for one parent to claim both children if their tax situation would benefit significantly more.

Has anyone dealt with the health insurance part of this? When my ex and I split claiming our kids, we ran into issues with the premium tax credit for health insurance. Only the person who claims the kid as a dependent can claim their health insurance costs for tax credits.

This is a great question that comes up a lot! Yes, your daughter and her ex can absolutely each claim one child on their separate tax returns. The key rule is that each child can only be claimed as a dependent by one parent per tax year - but there's no requirement that all children must be claimed by the same parent. Since they co-parent well and split time fairly evenly, they just need to agree on who claims which child and stick to that arrangement. I'd recommend they put this agreement in writing to avoid any confusion down the road. One important thing to consider though - they should look at the bigger tax picture before deciding. The parent who claims a child gets all the related tax benefits for that child (Child Tax Credit, Earned Income Credit if eligible, Head of Household filing status, etc.). Given their income difference ($42K vs $65K), your daughter might benefit more from certain credits that phase out at higher incomes. They might want to run the numbers both ways to see which arrangement gives them the best combined tax benefit.