If a dependent child who must file an income tax return cannot file it for any reason, such as age, a parent, guardian, or other legally responsible person must file it for the child. If the child cannot sign the return, the parent or guardian must sign the child's name followed by the words “By (your signature), parent for minor child.”

This is salaries, wages, professional fees, and other amounts received as pay for work you actually perform. Earned income (only for purposes of filing requirements and the standard deduction) also includes any part of a scholarship that you must include in your gross income. See chapter 1 of Publication 970, Tax Benefits for Education, for more information on taxable and nontaxable scholarships.

Amounts a child earns by performing services are his or her gross income. This is true even if under local law the child's parents have the right to the earnings and may actually have received them. If the child does not pay the tax due on this income, the parent is liable for the tax.

This is income such as interest, dividends, and capital gains. Trust distributions of interest, dividends, capital gains, and survivor annuities are considered unearned income also.

You may be able to include your child's interest and dividend income on your tax return. If you choose to do this, your child will not have to file a return. However, all of the following conditions must be met.

For more information, see Parent's Election To Report Child's Interest and Dividends in Publication 929, and Form 8814.

You are considered unmarried for the whole year if, on the last day of your tax year, you are unmarried or legally separated from your spouse under a divorce or a separate maintenance decree.

State law governs whether you are married or legally separated under a divorce or separate maintenance decree.

If you are divorced under a final decree by the last day of the year, you are considered unmarried for the whole year.

If you obtain a divorce in one year for the sole purpose of filing tax returns as unmarried individuals, and at the time of divorce you intended to and did remarry each other in the next tax year, you and your spouse must file as married individuals.

If you obtain a court decree of annulment, which holds that no valid marriage ever existed, you are considered unmarried even if you filed joint returns for earlier years. You must file amended returns (Form 1040X) claiming single or head of household status for all tax years affected by the annulment that are not closed by the statute of limitations for filing a tax return. The statute of limitations generally does not expire until 3 years after your original return was filed.

If you are considered unmarried, you may be able to file as a head of household or as a qualifying widow(er) with a dependent child. See Head of Household and Qualifying Widow(er) With Dependent Child to see if you qualify.

If you are considered married for the whole year, you and your spouse can file a joint return, or you can file separate returns.

You are considered married for the whole year if on the last day of your tax year you and your spouse meet any one of the following tests.

If your spouse died during the year, you are considered married for the whole year for filing status purposes.

If you did not remarry before the end of the tax year, you can file a joint return for yourself and your deceased spouse. For the next 2 years, you may be entitled to the special benefits described later under Qualifying Widow(er) With Dependent Child.

If you remarried before the end of the tax year, you can file a joint return with your new spouse. Your deceased spouse's filing status is married filing separately for that year.

If you live apart from your spouse and meet certain tests, you may be considered unmarried. If this applies to you, you can file as head of household even though you are not divorced or legally separated. If you qualify to file as head of household instead of as married filing separately, your standard deduction will be higher. Also, your tax may be lower, and you may be able to claim the earned income credit. See Head of Household, later.

You can file Form 1040EZ (if you have no dependents, are under 65 and not blind, and meet other requirements), Form 1040A, or Form 1040. If you file Form 1040A or Form 1040, show your filing status as single by checking the box on line 1. Use the Single column of the Tax Table, or Schedule X of the Tax Rate Schedules, to figure your tax.

If you file as married filing jointly, you can use Form 1040 or Form 1040A. If you have no dependents, are under 65 and not blind, and meet other requirements, you can file Form 1040EZ. If you file Form 1040 or Form 1040A, show this filing status by checking the box on line 2. Use the Married filing jointly column of the Tax Table, or Schedule Y–1 of the Tax Rate Schedules, to figure your tax.

If your spouse died during the year, you are considered married for the whole year and can choose married filing jointly as your filing status. See Spouse died during the year, under Married persons, earlier.

If you are divorced under a final decree by the last day of the year, you are considered unmarried for the whole year and you cannot choose married filing jointly as your filing status.

Both of you must use the same accounting period, but you can use different accounting methods.

Both of you may be held responsible, jointly and individually, for the tax and any interest or penalty due on your joint return. One spouse may be held responsible for all the tax due even if all the income was earned by the other spouse.

You may be held jointly and individually responsible for any tax, interest, and penalties due on a joint return filed before your divorce. This responsibility may apply even if your divorce decree states that your former spouse will be responsible for any amounts due on previously filed joint returns.

In some cases, one spouse may be relieved of joint liability for tax, interest, and penalties on a joint return for items of the other spouse which were incorrectly reported on the joint return. You can ask for relief no matter how small the liability.

There are three types of relief available.

You must file Form 8857, Request for Innocent Spouse Relief, to request any of these kinds of relief. Publication 971, Innocent Spouse Relief, explains these kinds of relief and who may qualify for them.

For a return to be considered a joint return, both husband and wife must generally sign the return.

If your spouse died before signing the return, the executor or administrator must sign the return for your spouse. If neither you nor anyone else has yet been appointed as executor or administrator, you can sign the return for your spouse and print “Filing as surviving spouse” in the area where you sign the return.

If your spouse is away from home, you should prepare the return, sign it, and send it to your spouse to sign so that it can be filed on time.

If your spouse cannot sign because of injury or disease and tells you to sign, you can sign your spouse's name in the proper space on the return followed by the words “By (your name), Husband (or Wife).” Be sure to also sign in the space provided for your signature. Attach a dated statement, signed by you, to the return. The statement should include the form number of the return you are filing, the tax year, the reason your spouse cannot sign, and that your spouse has agreed to your signing for him or her.

If you are the guardian of your spouse who is mentally incompetent, you can sign the return for your spouse as guardian.

If your spouse is unable to sign the return because he or she is serving in a combat zone (such as the Persian Gulf area, Yugoslavia, or Afghanistan), or a qualified hazardous duty area (such as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, or Macedonia), and you do not have a power of attorney or other statement, you can sign for your spouse. Attach a signed statement to your return that explains that your spouse is serving in a combat zone. For more information on special tax rules for persons who are serving in a combat zone, or who are in missing status as a result of serving in a combat zone, get Publication 3, Armed Forces' Tax Guide.

If your spouse cannot sign the joint return for any other reason, you can sign for your spouse only if you are given a valid power of attorney (a legal document giving you permission to act for your spouse). Attach the power of attorney (or a copy of it) to your tax return. You can use Form 2848.

A joint return generally cannot be filed if either spouse is a nonresident alien at any time during the tax year. However, if one spouse was a nonresident alien or dual-status alien who was married to a U.S. citizen or resident at the end of the year, the spouses can choose to file a joint return. If you do file a joint return, you and your spouse are both treated as U.S. residents for the entire tax year. See chapter 1 of Publication 519.

If you file a separate return, you generally report only your own income, exemptions, credits, and deductions on your individual return. You can claim an exemption for your spouse if your spouse had no gross income and was not the dependent of another person. However, if your spouse had any gross income or was the dependent of someone else, you cannot claim an exemption for him or her on your separate return.

If you file as married filing separately, you can use Form 1040A or Form 1040. Select this filing status by checking the box on line 3 of either form. You must also enter your spouse's social security number and full name in the spaces provided. Use the Married filing separately column of the Tax Table or Schedule Y–2 of the Tax Rate Schedules to figure your tax.

You may not be able to deduct all or part of your contributions to a traditional IRA if you or your spouse was covered by an employee retirement plan at work during the year. Your deduction is reduced or eliminated if your income is more than a certain amount. This amount is much lower for married individuals who file separately and lived together at any time during the year. For more information, see How Much Can You Deduct? in chapter 1 of Publication 590, Individual Retirement Arrangements (IRAs).

If you actively participated in a passive rental real estate activity that produced a loss, you generally can deduct the loss from your nonpassive income up to $25,000. This is called a special allowance. However, married persons filing separate returns who lived together at any time during the year cannot claim this special allowance. Married persons filing separate returns who lived apart at all times during the year are each allowed a $12,500 maximum special allowance for losses from passive real estate activities. See Rental Activities in Publication 925, Passive Activity and At-Risk Rules.

If you live in Arizona, California, Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Washington, or Wisconsin and file separately, your income may be considered separate income or community income for income tax purposes. See Publication 555, Community Property.

A personal representative for a decedent can change from a joint return elected by the surviving spouse to a separate return for the decedent. The personal representative has 1 year from the due date of the return to make the change. See Publication 559 for more information on filing income tax returns for a decedent.

If you file as head of household, you can use either Form 1040A or Form 1040. Indicate your choice of this filing status by checking the box on line 4 of either form. Use the Head of a household column of the Tax Table or Schedule Z of the Tax Rate Schedules, to figure your tax.

You are considered unmarried for head of household purposes if your spouse was a nonresident alien at any time during the year and you do not choose to treat your nonresident spouse as a resident alien. However, your spouse is not a qualifying person for head of household purposes. You must have another qualifying person and meet the other tests to be eligible to file as a head of household.

Even if you are considered unmarried for head of household purposes because you are married to a nonresident alien, you are still considered married for purposes of the earned income credit (unless you meet the five tests listed earlier under Considered Unmarried). You are not entitled to the credit unless you file a joint return with your spouse and meet other qualifications. See Publication 596 for more information.

You are considered married if you choose to treat your spouse as a resident alien. See chapter 1 of Publication 519.

Include in the cost of upkeep expenses such as rent, mortgage interest, real estate taxes, insurance on the home, repairs, utilities, and food eaten in the home.

Do not include in the cost of upkeep expenses such as clothing, education, medical treatment, vacations, life insurance, or transportation. Also, do not include the rental value of a home you own or the value of your services or those of a member of your household.

Generally, the qualifying person must live with you for more than half of the year.

You may be eligible to file as head of household even if the parent for whom you can claim an exemption does not live with you. You must pay more than half the cost of keeping up a home that was the main home for the entire year for your father or mother. You are keeping up a main home for your father or mother if you pay more than half the cost of keeping your parent in a rest home or home for the elderly.

You may be eligible to file as head of household if the individual who qualifies you for this filing status is born or dies during the year. You must have provided more than half of the cost of keeping up a home that was the individual's main home for more than half of the year, or, if less, the period during which the individual lived.

You and your qualifying person are considered to live together even if one or both of you are temporarily absent from your home due to special circumstances such as illness, education, business, vacation, or military service. It must be reasonable to assume that the absent person will return to the home after the temporary absence. You must continue to keep up the home during the absence.

You may be eligible to file as head of household, even if the child who is your qualifying person has been kidnapped. You can claim head of household filing status if all the following statements are true.

This treatment applies for all years until the child is returned. However, the last year this treatment can apply is the earlier of:

If you file as a qualifying widow(er) with dependent child, you can use either Form 1040A or Form 1040. Indicate your filing status by checking the box on line 5 of either form. Use the Married filing jointly column of the Tax Table or Schedule Y-1 of the Tax Rate Schedules to figure your tax.

You are eligible to file your 2003 return as a qualifying widow(er) with dependent child if you meet all the following tests.

You may be eligible to file as a qualifying widow(er) with dependent child if the child who qualifies you for this filing status is born or dies during the year. You must have provided more than half of the cost of keeping up a home that was the child's main home during the entire part of the year he or she was alive.

You may be eligible to file as a qualifying widow(er) with dependent child, even if the child who qualifies you for this filing status has been kidnapped. You can claim qualifying widow(er) with dependent child filing status if all the following statements are true.

As mentioned earlier, this filing status is only available for 2 years following the year your spouse died.

There are two types of exemptions: personal exemptions and exemptions for dependents. While each is worth the same amount ($3,050 for 2003), different rules, discussed later, apply to each type.

If you are entitled to claim an exemption for a dependent (such as your child), that dependent cannot claim a personal exemption on his or her own tax return.

How you claim an exemption on your tax return depends on which form you file.

If you file Form 1040EZ, the exemption amount is combined with the standard deduction and entered on line 5.

If you file Form 1040A, complete lines 6a through 6d. The total number of exemptions you can claim is the total in the box on line 6d. Also complete line 26 by multiplying the number in the box on line 6d by $3,050.

If you file Form 1040, complete lines 6a through 6d. On line 39, multiply the total exemptions shown in the box on line 6d by $3,050 and enter the result. If your adjusted gross income is more than $104,625, see Phaseout of Exemptions, later.

If you are a U.S. citizen or resident, or a resident of Canada or Mexico, you may qualify for any of the exemptions discussed here.

Generally, if you are a nonresident alien (other than a resident of Canada or Mexico, or certain residents of India, Japan, or Korea), you can qualify for only one personal exemption for yourself. You cannot claim exemptions for a spouse or dependents.

These restrictions do not apply if you are a nonresident alien married to a citizen or resident of the United States and have chosen to be treated as a resident of the United States.

For information on exemptions if you are a nonresident alien, see chapter 5 in Publication 519.

If you have been both a nonresident alien and a resident alien in the same tax year, you should get Publication 519 for information on determining your exemptions.

If another taxpayer is entitled to claim you as a dependent, you cannot take an exemption for yourself. This is true even if the other taxpayer does not actually claim your exemption.

If you file a joint return, you can take your own exemption. If you file a separate return, you can take your own exemption only if another taxpayer is not entitled to claim you as a dependent.

On a joint return, you can claim one exemption for yourself and one for your spouse.

If you file a separate return, you can claim the exemption for your spouse only if your spouse had no gross income, is not filing a return, and was not the dependent of another taxpayer. This is true even if the other taxpayer does not actually claim your spouse's exemption. This is also true if your spouse is a nonresident alien.

If you qualify for head of household filing status because you are considered unmarried, you can claim an exemption for your spouse if the conditions described in the preceding paragraph are satisfied.

To claim the exemption for your spouse, check the box on line 6b of Form 1040 or Form 1040A and enter the name of your spouse in the space to the right of the box. Enter the SSN or ITIN of your spouse in the space provided at the top of Form 1040 or Form 1040A.

If your spouse died during the year, you can generally claim your spouse's exemption under the rules just explained in Joint return and Separate return.

If you remarried during the year, you cannot take an exemption for your deceased spouse.

If you are a surviving spouse without gross income and you remarry in the year your spouse died, you can be claimed as an exemption on both the final separate return of your deceased spouse and the separate return of your new spouse for that year. If you file a joint return with your new spouse, you can be claimed as an exemption only on that return.

If you obtained a final decree of divorce or separate maintenance by the end of the year, you cannot take your former spouse's exemption. This rule applies even if you provided all of your former spouse's support.

You may be eligible to claim the exemption for a child even if the child has been kidnapped. Both of the following statements must be true.

If both statements are true, the child is treated as your dependent and you qualify to claim the exemption.

This treatment applies for all years until the child is returned. However, the last year this treatment can apply is the earlier of:

If your child was born alive during the year, and the dependency tests are met, you can claim the exemption. This is true even if the child lived only for a moment. State or local law must treat the child as having been born alive. There must be proof of a live birth shown by an official document, such as a birth certificate.

You cannot claim an exemption for a stillborn child.

If your dependent died during the year and otherwise met the dependency tests, you can claim the exemption for your dependent.

If these people work for you, you cannot claim exemptions for them.

You may be entitled to a child tax credit for each of your qualifying children for whom you can claim an exemption. For more information, see the instructions in your tax forms package.

A person lives with you as a member of your household even if either (or both) of you are temporarily absent due to special circumstances. Temporary absences due to special circumstances include absences because of illness, education, business, vacation, or military service.

If the person is placed in a nursing home for an indefinite period of time to receive constant medical care, the absence is considered temporary.

A person who died during the year, but was a member of your household until death, will meet the member of household test. The same is true for a child who was born during the year and was a member of your household for the rest of the year. The test is also met if a child would have been a member except for any required hospital stay following birth.

A person does not meet the member of household test if at any time during your tax year the relationship between you and that person violates local law.

A person related to you in any of the following ways does not have to live with you for the entire year as a member of your household to meet this test.

Any of these relationships that were established by marriage are not ended by death or divorce.

Even if your adoption of a child is not yet final, the child is considered to be your child if he or she was placed with you for legal adoption by an authorized placement agency. The child must also be a member of your household, but does not have to be a member of your household for the entire year.

If the child was not placed with you by an authorized placement agency, the child will meet this test only if he or she was a member of your household for your entire tax year.

An authorized placement agency includes any person or court authorized by state law to place children for legal adoption.

A foster child must live with you as a member of your household for the entire year to qualify as your dependent. For this test, a foster child is one who is in your care that you care for as your own child. It does not matter how the child became a member of the household.

You can claim an exemption for your cousin only if he or she lives with you as a member of your household for the entire year. A cousin is a descendant of a brother or sister of your father or mother.

If you file a joint return, you do not need to show that a person is related to both you and your spouse. You also do not need to show that a person is related to the spouse who provides support.

For example, your spouse's uncle who receives more than half of his support from you may be your dependent, even though he does not live with you. However, if you and your spouse file separate returns, your spouse's uncle can be your dependent only if he is a member of your household and lives with you for your entire tax year.

Children usually are citizens or residents of the country of their parents.

If you were a U.S. citizen when your child was born, the child may be a U.S. citizen although the other parent was a nonresident alien and the child was born in a foreign country. If so, and the other dependency tests are met, you can take the exemption. It does not matter if the child lives abroad with the nonresident alien parent.

If you are a U.S. citizen who has legally adopted a child who is not a U.S. citizen or resident, and the other dependency tests are met, you can take the exemption if your home is the child's main home and the child is a member of your household for your entire tax year.

Foreign students brought to this country under a qualified international education exchange program and placed in American homes for a temporary period generally are not U.S. residents and do not meet the citizen or resident test. You cannot claim an exemption for them. However, if you provided a home for a foreign student, you may be able to take a charitable contribution deduction. See Expenses Paid for Student Living With You in Publication 526, Charitable Contributions.

The joint return test does not apply if a joint return is filed by the dependent and his or her spouse merely as a claim for refund and no tax liability would exist for either spouse on separate returns.

All income in the form of money, property, and services that is not exempt from tax is gross income.

In a manufacturing, merchandising, or mining business, gross income is the total net sales minus the cost of goods sold, plus any miscellaneous income from the business.

Gross receipts from rental property are gross income. Do not deduct taxes, repairs, etc., to determine the gross income from rental property.

Gross income includes a partner's share of the gross (not a share of the net) partnership income.

Gross income also includes all unemployment compensation and certain scholarship and fellowship grants. Scholarships received by degree candidates that are used for tuition, fees, supplies, books, and equipment required for particular courses may not be included in gross income. For more information about scholarships, see chapter 1 of Publication 970, Tax Benefits for Education.

Tax-exempt income, such as certain social security payments, is not included in gross income.

For this gross income test, gross income does not include income received by a permanently and totally disabled individual for services performed at a sheltered workshop. The availability of medical care must be the main reason the individual is at the workshop. Also, the income must come solely from activities at the workshop that are incident to this medical care. A sheltered workshop is a school operated by certain tax-exempt organizations, or by a state, a U.S. possession, a political subdivision of a state or possession, the United States, or the District of Columbia, that provides special instruction or training designed to alleviate the disability of the individual.

For purposes of the gross income test, your child is your son, stepson, daughter, stepdaughter, a legally adopted child, or a child who was placed with you by an authorized placement agency for your legal adoption. A foster child who was a member of your household for your entire tax year is also considered your child.

If your child is under 19 at the end of the year, the gross income test does not apply. Your child can have any amount of income and you can still claim an exemption if the other dependency tests, including the support test, are met.

The gross income test does not apply if your child is a student who is under age 24 at the end of the calendar year. The other dependency tests must still be met.

To qualify as a student, your child must be, during some part of each of 5 calendar months during the calendar year (not necessarily consecutive):

A full-time student is a person who is enrolled for the number of hours or courses the school considers to be full-time attendance.

The term “school” includes elementary schools, junior and senior high schools, colleges, universities, and technical, trade, and mechanical schools. It does not include on-the-job training courses, correspondence schools, and night schools.

People who work on “co-op” jobs in private industry as a part of the school's prescribed course of classroom and practical training are considered full-time students.

Your child is not a full-time student while attending school only at night. However, full-time attendance at a school can include some attendance at night as part of a full-time course of study.

You figure whether you have provided more than half of a person's total support by comparing the amount you contributed to that person's support with the entire amount of support that person received from all sources. This includes support the person provided from his or her own funds.

You may find Table 5 helpful in figuring whether you provided more than half of a person's support.

You cannot include in your contribution to your child's support any support that is paid for by the child with the child's own wages, even if you paid the wages.

The year you provide the support is the year you pay for it, even if you do so with borrowed money that you repay in a later year.

If you use a fiscal year to report your income, you must provide more than half of the dependent's support for the calendar year in which your fiscal year begins.

The part of the allotment contributed by the government and the part taken out of your military pay are both considered provided by you in figuring whether you provide more than half of the support. If your allotment is used to support persons other than those you name, you can take the exemptions for them if they otherwise qualify.

These allowances are treated the same way as dependency allotments in figuring support. The allotment of pay and the tax-exempt basic allowance for quarters are both considered as provided by you for support.

In figuring a person's total support, include tax-exempt income, savings, and borrowed amounts used to support that person. Tax-exempt income includes certain social security benefits, welfare benefits, nontaxable life insurance proceeds, Armed Forces family allotments, nontaxable pensions, and tax-exempt interest.

If a husband and wife each receive payments that are paid by one check made out to both of them, half of the total paid is considered to be for the support of each spouse, unless they can show otherwise.

If a child receives social security benefits and uses them toward his or her own support, the payments are considered as provided by the child.

Benefits provided by the state to a needy person generally are considered support provided by the state. However, payments based on the needs of the recipient will not be considered as used by that individual entirely for his or her own support if it is shown that part of the payments were not used for that purpose.

Payments you receive for the support of a foster child from a child placement agency are considered support provided by the agency. Similarly, payments you receive for the support of a foster child from a state or county are considered support provided by the state or county.

If you are not in the trade or business of providing foster care and your unreimbursed out-of-pocket expenses in caring for a foster child were mainly to benefit an organization qualified to receive deductible charitable contributions, the expenses are deductible as charitable contributions, but are not considered support you provided. For more information about the deduction for charitable contributions, see Publication 526. If your unreimbursed expenses are not deductible as charitable contributions, they are considered support you provided.

If you are in the trade or business of providing foster care, your unreimbursed expenses are not considered support provided by you.

If you make a lump-sum advance payment to a home for the aged to take care of your relative for life and the payment is based on that person's life expectancy, the amount of support you provide each year is the lump-sum payment divided by the relative's life expectancy. The amount of support you provide also includes any other amounts that you provided during the year.

If you provide a person with lodging, you are considered to provide support equal to the fair rental value of the room, apartment, house, or other shelter in which the person lives. Fair rental value includes a reasonable allowance for the use of furniture and appliances, and for heat and other utilities that are provided.

This is the amount you could reasonably expect to receive from a stranger for the same kind of lodging. It is used instead of actual expenses such as rent or taxes, interest, depreciation, paint, insurance, utilities, cost of furniture and appliances, etc. In some cases, fair rental value may be equal to the rent paid.

If you provide the total lodging, the amount of support you provide is the fair rental value of the room the person uses, or a share of the fair rental value of the entire dwelling if the person has use of your entire home. If you do not provide the total lodging, the total fair rental value must be divided depending on how much of the total lodging you provide. If you provide only a part and the person supplies the rest, the fair rental value must be divided between both of you according to the amount each provides.

The total fair rental value of a person's home that he or she owns is considered support contributed by that person.

If you live with a person rent free in his or her home, you must reduce the amount you provide for support by the fair rental value of lodging he or she provides you.

Property provided as support is measured by its fair market value. Fair market value is the price that property would sell for on the open market. It is the price that would be agreed upon between a willing buyer and a willing seller, with neither being required to act, and both having reasonable knowledge of the relevant facts.

Capital items, such as furniture, appliances, and cars, that are bought for a person during the year can be included in total support under certain circumstances.

The following examples show when a capital item is or is not support.

Medical insurance premiums you pay, including premiums for supplementary Medicare coverage, are included in the support you provide.

Medical insurance benefits, including basic and supplementary Medicare benefits, are not part of support.

Amounts veterans receive under the GI Bill for tuition payments and allowances while they attend school are included in total support.

If you pay someone to provide child care or disabled dependent care, you can include these payments in the amount you provided for the support of your child or disabled dependent, even if you claim a credit for them. For information on the credit, see Publication 503, Child and Dependent Care Expenses.

Other items may be considered as support depending on the facts in each case.

The parent who has custody of the child for the greater part of the year (the custodial parent) is generally treated as the parent who provides more than half of the child's support. It does not matter whether the custodial parent actually provided more than half of the support.

Custody is usually determined by the terms of the most recent decree of divorce or separate maintenance, or a later custody decree. If there is no decree, use the written separation agreement. If neither a decree nor agreement establishes custody, then the parent who has the physical custody of the child for the greater part of the year is considered to have custody of the child. This also applies if the validity of a decree or agreement awarding custody is uncertain because of legal proceedings pending on the last day of the calendar year.

If the parents are divorced or separated during the year and had joint custody of the child before the separation, the parent who has custody for the greater part of the rest of the year is considered to have custody of the child for the tax year.

The noncustodial parent will be treated as providing more than half of the child's support if:

The noncustodial parent is the parent who has custody of the child for the shorter part of the year or who does not have custody at all.

The custodial parent may use either Form 8332 or a similar statement (containing the information required by the form) to make the written declaration to release the exemption to the noncustodial parent. The noncustodial parent must attach the form or statement to his or her tax return.

The exemption can be released for a single year, for a number of specified years (for example, alternate years), or for all future years, as specified in the declaration. If the exemption is released for more than one year, the original release must be attached to the return of the noncustodial parent for the first year, and a copy must be attached for each later year.

If your divorce decree or separation agreement was executed after 1984, the noncustodial parent does not have to attach Form 8332 if both of the following requirements are met.

If these requirements are not met, the noncustodial parent must attach to his or her return Form 8332 or a similar statement from the custodial parent releasing the exemption.

All child support payments actually received from the noncustodial parent are considered used for the support of the child.

If you fail to pay child support in the year it is due, but pay it in a later year, your payment of the overdue amount is not considered paid for the support of your child either for the year the payment was due or for the year it is paid. It is payment of an amount you owed to the custodial parent, but it is not considered paid by you for the support of your child.

Support provided by a third party for a divorced or separated parent is not included as support provided by that parent. However, see Remarried parent, below.

If you remarry, the support provided by your new spouse is treated as provided by you.

If you and your former spouse have the right to use and live in the home, each of you is considered to provide half of your child's lodging. However, if the divorce decree gives only you the right to use and live in the home, you are considered to provide your child's entire lodging. It does not matter if the legal title to the home remains in the names of both parents.

These special rules for divorced or separated parents also apply to parents who never married.

If a person for whom you expect to claim an exemption on your return does not have an SSN, either you or that person should apply for an SSN as soon as possible by filing Form SS–5, Application for a Social Security Card, with the Social Security Administration (SSA). Information about applying for an SSN and Form SS–5 is available at your local SSA office.

It usually takes about 2 weeks to get an SSN. If you do not have a required SSN by the filing due date, you can file Form 4868, Application for Automatic Extension of Time To File U.S. Individual Income Tax Return, for an extension of time to file.

If your child was born and died in 2003, and you do not have an SSN for the child, you may attach a copy of the child's birth certificate instead. If you do, enter “DIED” in column (2) of line 6c of your Form 1040 or Form 1040A.

If your dependent is a resident or nonresident alien who does not have and is not eligible to get an SSN, your dependent must apply for an individual taxpayer identification number (ITIN). For details on how to apply, see Form W–7, Application for IRS Individual Taxpayer Identification Number.

It usually takes about 4 to 6 weeks to get an ITIN.

If you have a child who was placed with you by an authorized placement agency, you may be able to claim an exemption for the child. However, if you cannot get an SSN or an ITIN for the child, you must get an adoption taxpayer identification number (ATIN) for the child from the IRS. See Form W–7A, Application for Taxpayer Identification Number for Pending U.S. Adoptions, for details.

Your standard deduction is zero and you should itemize any deductions you have if:

If you are partly blind, you must get a certified statement from an eye doctor or registered optometrist that:

If your eye condition will never improve beyond these limits, the statement should include this fact. You must keep the statement in your records.

If your vision can be corrected beyond these limits only by contact lenses that you can wear only briefly because of pain, infection, or ulcers, you can take the higher standard deduction for blindness if you otherwise qualify.

Earned income is salaries, wages, tips, professional fees and other amounts received as pay for work you actually perform.

For purposes of the standard deduction, earned income also includes any part of a scholarship or fellowship grant that you must include in your gross income. See chapter 1 of Publication 970 for more information on what qualifies as a scholarship or fellowship grant.

You may benefit from itemizing your deductions on Schedule A (Form 1040) if you:

If you decide to itemize your deductions, complete Schedule A and attach it to your Form 1040. Enter the amount from Schedule A, line 28, on Form 1040, line 37.

Even if your itemized deductions are less than the amount of your standard deduction, you can elect to itemize deductions on your federal return rather than take the standard deduction. You may want to do this, for example, if the tax benefit of being able to itemize your deductions on your state tax return is greater than the tax benefit you lose on your federal return by not taking the standard deduction. To make this election, you must enter “IE” (itemized elected) on the dotted line next to line 37 (Form 1040).

If you do not itemize your deductions and later find that you should have itemized — or if you itemize your deductions and later find you should not have — you can change your return by filing Form 1040X.

You can change methods of taking deductions only if you and your spouse both make the same changes. Both of you must file a consent to assessment for any additional tax either one may owe as a result of the change.

You and your spouse can use the method that gives you the lower total tax, even though one of you may pay more tax than you would have paid by using the other method. You both must use the same method of claiming deductions. If one itemizes deductions, the other should itemize because he or she will not qualify for the standard deduction (see Persons not eligible for the standard deduction, earlier).

If you have attempted to deal with an IRS problem unsuccessfully, you should contact your Taxpayer Advocate.

The Taxpayer Advocate independently represents your interests and concerns within the IRS by protecting your rights and resolving problems that have not been fixed through normal channels. While Taxpayer Advocates cannot change the tax law or make a technical tax decision, they can clear up problems that resulted from previous contacts and ensure that your case is given a complete and impartial review.

To contact your Taxpayer Advocate:

For more information, see Publication 1546, The Taxpayer Advocate Service of the IRS.

To find out what services are available, get Publication 910, Guide to Free Tax Services. It contains a list of free tax publications and an index of tax topics. It also describes other free tax information services, including tax education and assistance programs and a list of TeleTax topics.