Taxpayer asks:
Hi taxgirl! My daughter was born in 2008 and we sort of forgot to claim her. Call it mommy-brain… anyway, is it worth refiling? We are married, filing jointly, have one additional (claimed) child, and made about 325K in 2008. Thanks!
Taxgirl says:
As a mother of three young kids who has found myself upstairs more than once and forgotten why I went up there in the first place, I totally get the “mommy brain” thing…
Yes, you can amend your tax return in order to claim your extra dependent. File a form 1040-X (available here as a pdf) and make the adjustment on line 26.
Good luck!
(Psst, the “mommy brain” never really goes away. You just start calling it different things… or blaming your husband!)
Before you go: be sure to read my disclaimer. Remember, I’m a lawyer and we love disclaimers.
If you have a question, here’s how to Ask The Taxgirl.
But of course part of the $3500 exemption is phased out down to $2333 I believe, and at the 33% rate the exemption is worth $769 or $770. Which by the way is less than what that exception would be worth to someone in the 25% bracket. Of course I’d gladly make the trade. Being in the 33% bracket is a problem I’ve always wanted to have.