Child Tax Credit: Fill & Download for Free

I am profoundly better off.I live a very nontraditional life… on basically no income… because I am a stay at home SINGLE mother.Yeah, i know… that sounds impossible. It isn't.My ex husband pays $240 a month in child support & my son & i receive food stamps. That's it. That's the entirety of the money coming into our household.How is that possible?It is possible through a combination of factors.I own my home. It isn't much, just an old trailer, but it's mine and I only pay $100 a month lot rent.The minimum water bill here is $45. I make darned sure to ALWAYS have a minimum bill.Electricity is fairly cheap here. I keep my consumption low. I'm always well below average usage, for a home with similar square footage, on the charts my electric company includes in every 3rd bill. My electric rarely exceeds $100 in a month.Though I don't have a traditional job I do quite a bit of volunteer work in my neighborhood which allows me to file income tax based on the value of that work — which in turn allows me to claim a child tax credit. That child tax credit was doubled under President Trump's tax plan. That doubled credit pays my entire yearly lot rent & water bill.Before the tax plan, I didn't even know I could file based on volunteer work… that was never publicized. But because of the child tax credit increase the local DCBS office put up fliers about nontraditional ways to collect the new child tax credit… and wouldn't you know it, volunteering months of your life to helping other poor & struggling people get through rough times, like the folks I helped through 4 months of being unambulatory as the result of a fatal car wreck last year — qualified me to claim that tax credit.And the amount of that credit was life changing for us. No more worries about things like toilet paper & running water is a profound change in my life… but being able to actually buy my kid a great birthday present… that was priceless — and it's only been possible because of President Trump & his tax plan.

Update 12/26/2017The final law looks not so bad. My alimony payments will be grandfathered, meaning I can still deduct them. Only new divorces will be impacted. Also the head of household filing status is still in existence. Fuballly, the income level for child tax credit sounds like it is increasing so I may get something there. I expect a modest reduction in my taxes with the new plan.Previous response:have run the numbers using the recently passed House plan. I will be paying about $6k more in taxes. I am a divorced father of 3 children. My standard deduction is increasing, however I am losing a personal exemption and exemptions for the kids. I also will no longer be able to deduct my alimony payments to my ex from my income. Finally, the head of household filing status is being eliminated. These factors all combine to increase my tax liability. I earn too much to qualify for any child tax credits. I consider myself upper middle class. The tax plan as it stands hurts single middle class parents.

If I were you I would make up a Parent/Child reimbursement form, it would be about 20 pages long and worse than IRS Paper work. It would entail the following....1) For each year you would have a sheetFather nameWife NameEach Childs NameEveryone Social Security Number2) A Spreadsheet with costs for the following expenses and everything should have receiptsHousingFoodElectricityWaterTrashNanny/DayCare ExpensesIncome earned by fatherIncome earned by motherState child support amount per month per personTotal up the total spent then figure out what the state would legally make him pay, then the difference is what you owe, on an annual basis3) Tax Forms for every year that he paid taxesHe wrote off expenses that he paid for you, so you are not responsible for those expensesChild Tax CreditsDaycare expenses he wrote off4) If he cannot provide you with detailed answers for questions, they don't count.He wants to be "reimbursed" so he needs to prove what he paid, he shouldn't get credit for things he wrote off and you should quantify things like love, vacation.Hes going to look at you like you're nuts, tell him well you're dumb for thinking of a kid as an investment, ask him why he buys nice cars. Those aren't investments (unless they're classics) those are for fun. So are your kids, then tell him you learned from watching him and walk out.Good luck, your dads a dick.