HOH Audit

[susvin]

Hello,
I have received a Head of Household Audit letter for 2007 tax filing. I had claimed my father-in-law and mother-in-law as my dependents. They were in the US on visitor visa from Jan07 to Jan08. I applied and received their ITINs too.
There is a question on the audit letter:-
Was your qualifying person a citizen of the US or a resident of US, Canada, or Mexico? Answer Yes or No

What should I respond?
I know that parents and in-laws present in US can be claimed as dependents for tax filing purposes.

Thanks in advance

[cncd1]

You are wrong. Visiting parents from most countries may NOT be claimed as dependents. Unless they are Mexican or Canadian citizens or LPRs, you MUST answer NO.

You have tried to illegally represent you parents as valid dependents. They are not, or they would not have been admitted to the US. By using them to claim tax advantages through their dependency claims, you have committed a violation according to IRS rules - otherwise known a tax fraud.

You are in deep yogurt!!! You think the USCIS/INS/ICE/DHS are bad, you are now crosswise with the IRS. Admit you claimed them improperly; pay the additional taxes and fines and hope this does not get a criminal offense against you which might lead to deportation and a ban.

It has been repeatedly warned that this is not acceptable by US tax law. I have no sympathy for anyone who tries to get out of obligations via this scheme.

[peace]

You are wrong. Visiting parents from most countries may NOT be claimed as dependents. Unless they are Mexican or Canadian citizens or LPRs, you MUST answer NO.

You have tried to illegally represent you parents as valid dependents. They are not, or they would not have been admitted to the US. By using them to claim tax advantages through their dependency claims, you have committed a violation according to IRS rules - otherwise known a tax fraud.

You are in deep yogurt!!! You think the USCIS/INS/ICE/DHS are bad, you are now crosswise with the IRS. Admit you claimed them improperly; pay the additional taxes and fines and hope this does not get a criminal offense against you which might lead to deportation and a ban.

It has been repeatedly warned that this is not acceptable by US tax law. I have no sympathy for anyone who tries to get out of obligations via this scheme.
Half a dozen claims of this nature will zeoparadise the chances of visitor visa for us.

[ekambara]

> Head of Household Audit letter

Did you file tax return on your own or did you use a tax preparer? If you filed with a tax preparer, he/she can help you.

If you filed on your own, don't bother to respond to this post. That's because I am a tax professional and I don't have any concern for people who think they know the tax laws, just because they can use turbotax.

[Minnila]

I think you can claim dependency as the softwares allows you to even if they had stayed with you for 3 months. Since they live with you for more than six months I think you can claim head of household status.

Just see the rules for head of household status from irs website and reply, you should be ok.

[cncd1]

Minnila,

Your statements are 100% wrong.

Visiting parents do not qualify as dependents or enable a filer to claim Head of Household filing status.

If they are dependents, they do not qualify for visitor visas.

[prince_peter]

my wife came to US using her B1/B2 visa. Can I show her as my dependent?
We didnt bother to take H4 as she already has b1/B2 (visiting visa) stamped.
she has h1b approval to will be doing COS shortly.

[cncd1]

Please start your own thread on this.

Start reading here: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p519.pdf