Who should claim our child on taxes with unmarried parents living together?

Tax professional here! When deciding who should claim a child, the IRS has specific rules to follow, especially for unmarried parents living together. Since you both live together with the child, the "custodial parent" rule doesn't really apply in the traditional sense - that's more for separated parents living apart. Instead, the IRS looks at a tiebreaker system: 1. The parent with whom the child lived more during the year (in your case, probably equal since you live together) 2. The parent with the higher adjusted gross income (your boyfriend in this case) Since your boyfriend provides the financial support and has the higher income, having him claim the child would likely result in more tax benefits overall. He'd be eligible for the Child Tax Credit, possibly Head of Household filing status, and maybe the Earned Income Credit depending on your specific situation. However, you should both run your taxes both ways (you claiming vs. him claiming) to see which gives the better overall family result. Sometimes it's not as straightforward as it seems!

Just wanted to share my experience! I was in a similar situation last year with my girlfriend and our daughter. We were struggling with the same question and I found this amazing service called taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) that analyzed our specific situation and gave us personalized advice. The service asked about our living situation, who provides financial support, and our income levels, then gave us a detailed breakdown of who should claim our child to maximize our total refund. Turns out that even though I made more, it actually benefited us MORE for my girlfriend to claim our daughter because of her income bracket and eligibility for certain credits. We wouldn't have figured that out on our own! Might be worth checking out since they specialize in complicated tax situations and can tell you exactly what to do based on your specific circumstances.

Just wanted to follow up - I tried taxr.ai after seeing it mentioned here and it was seriously helpful! Our situation was complicated with my stepson who splits time between our house and his dad's, and I was totally stuck on who should claim him. The service asked really specific questions about our arrangement and financial support that I hadn't even thought about. It showed us exactly how much difference it would make if we claimed him versus his dad claiming him. Gave us the confidence to make the right decision and even provided documentation explaining the rules that applied to our situation that we can keep for our records. Definitely worth it if you're confused about dependent situations like we were!

I've been through this exact situation! After literally spending WEEKS trying to get through to the IRS for clarity (because online resources had conflicting info), I found Claimyr (https://claimyr.com) and it was a game-changer. They got me connected to an actual IRS agent in about 15 minutes when I'd been trying for days on my own. The agent walked me through all the rules about unmarried parents claiming children and explained exactly what documentation we needed to keep. They even helped me understand how to plan for next year. Check out their demo video if you're skeptical: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c Seriously, getting direct answers from the IRS was so much better than guessing or taking advice from random websites. The agent even told me about some credits I didn't know I qualified for!

I need to eat my words from my previous comment. After being super skeptical about Claimyr, I decided to try it because I was desperate for answers about my dependent situation with my ex. Honestly, I'm shocked at how well it worked. I had been trying to reach the IRS for THREE WEEKS with no luck. With Claimyr, I was connected to an IRS agent in about 20 minutes. The agent went through all the tiebreaker rules for my situation and confirmed exactly who should claim our child based on our custody arrangement. Having an official answer directly from the IRS has saved me so much stress and potentially a future audit. If you're stuck in a complicated dependent situation like the OP, getting the official word is totally worth it.

One thing to consider - have you looked into filing as Head of Household? If you can qualify (which means you paid more than half the cost of keeping up your home and had your qualifying child living with you for more than half the year), you might get better tax benefits than filing single. Even though your boyfriend makes more, if YOU claim the child, you might qualify for earned income credit which phases out at higher incomes. Sometimes the lower-earning parent claiming the child results in more total refund for the household combined.

Have you guys considered splitting the benefits? Like one of you claims the child tax credit and the other claims the EIC if eligible? My ex and I alternate years claiming our kid which works for us.

This is such a common situation for unmarried couples with kids! From what you've described, it sounds like your boyfriend would likely be the better choice to claim your child since he has the higher income and provides the financial support. The IRS tiebreaker rules for unmarried parents living together typically favor the parent with higher AGI. However, don't overlook the Earned Income Credit (EIC) - even with your lower income of $27k, you might still be eligible for EIC if you claim your child, and sometimes that can be more valuable than the Child Tax Credit your boyfriend would get. The EIC is specifically designed to help lower-income working families and phases out at higher incomes. My suggestion would be to use tax software or consult a professional to run both scenarios - him claiming vs you claiming - and see which gives your household the better overall refund. Sometimes the math isn't as obvious as it first appears, especially when factoring in all the different credits and filing statuses available to each of you. Also keep in mind that whichever one of you doesn't claim the child will need to file as Single rather than Head of Household, so factor that into your calculations too. Good luck navigating your first tax season as parents!