Child Support Enforcement - Sarpy County Nebraska

they have income. There is no floor for filing although you are not legally required to file unless
your income is over the base exemption and standard deduction amounts. Even if you are not
required to file, you may wish to do so in order to qualify for a refund.
For certain low-income individuals the impact of the EITC can be life changing. For example in
2011 a single working mother with 2 kids made $15,000 at her job. If this was her only income
she would be entitled to $5,112 in EITC alone. This would not include any amounts she would
gain from other credits (such as the CTC) or from any additional tax withholding.
The EITC cannot be “given” to the non-custodial parent. In order to qualify, you must have the
child living with you for at least 6 months of the tax year. You cannot waive this requirement
and the 8832 or an order from the court does not change the eligibility. Like the ability to
claim Head of Household filing status and claim child care expenses, the non-custodial parent
can’t claim this credit. Because of the large amounts of money involved tax fraud on this issue
is rampant. Many taxpayers do not understand when they get to “claim” the child that they
don’t get all of the tax benefits. Many tax preparers (and attorneys) don’t get it either. This
year the IRS issued a new checklist to help tax preparers reduce the likelihood of fraudulent
EITC claims.
The non-custodial parent can claim the CTC if they are also allowed to claim the dependency
exemption, which now typically requires the 8332 form to be completed as well.
While the CTC is usually worth $1,000 per child (applied to tax that you owe) you get a refund
of any “unused” portion of the credit by applying for the “Additional Child Tax Credit”. The
amount over what you owe in taxes is partially refundable and there is a formula the IRS applies
to determine the exact amount. For low-income taxpayers it is usually the full remaining
amount.
There is lots of great information on these issues at the IRS website.
I recommend Publication 501, pages 10-15, for a great discussion of child claiming issues
including an entire page of examples.
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p501.pdf
Earning Capacity
Claborn v. Claborn, 267 Neb. 201, 673 N.W.2d 533 (2004)
Paragraph D [now § 4-204] of the guidelines provides that if applicable, earning
capacity may be considered in lieu of a parent’s actual, present income and may
include factors such as work history, education, occupational skills, and job
opportunities.
Collins v. Collins, 19 Neb. App. 529, ___ N.W.2d ____ (Feb. 2012)
Facts: State filed complaint to modify and increase child support from $0 to $168/mo, and
imputed minimum wage income to the noncustodial parent, who was employed at a higher rate
of pay at the time the complaint was filed, but who was unemployed at time of trial. Evidence
elicited showed that parent had applied for work at at least 10 businesses per week (32 in 3
weeks), in a variety of fields, but could not get hired.
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