Topic 357 - Tax Information for Parents of Kidnapped ChildrenFor tax years ending after December 31, 2000, the law expressly provides that you
may claim a kidnapped child as your dependent if the following requirements are met:
The child must be presumed by law enforcement to have been kidnapped by someone
who is not a member of your family or a member of the child's family, and
The child must have qualified as your dependent for part of the tax year before
the kidnapping.
If both of these requirements are met, the child is treated as your dependent
for the following purposes:
The dependency exemption
The child tax credit, and
Head of household or qualifying widow(er) with dependent child filing status.
If the first requirement is met and if the child lived with you for more than
half of the year before the date of the kidnapping, the child is treated as living
with you for more than half of the year for purposes of the earned income credit.
This tax treatment will cease to apply as of your first tax year beginning after
the calendar year in which either there is a determination that the child is dead
or the child would have reached age 18, whichever occurs first.
For more information, refer to Publication 501, Exemptions, Standard Deduction,
and Filing Information.
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