Form 8332 Release of Claim to Exemption for Child of Divorced or S

8332

Release/Revocation of Release of Claim
to Exemption for Child by Custodial Parent

Form
(Rev. February 2009)

Department of the Treasury
Internal Revenue Service

©

Attachment
Sequence No.

Attach a separate form for each child.

Name of noncustodial parent

115

Noncustodial parent’s
social security number (SSN)

Part I

OMB No. 1545-0074

©

Release of Claim to Exemption for Current Year

I agree not to claim an exemption for
Name of child

for the tax year 20

.

Signature of custodial parent releasing claim to exemption

Custodial parent’s SSN

Date

Note. If you choose not to claim an exemption for this child for future tax years, also complete Part II.

Part II

Release of Claim to Exemption for Future Years (If completed, see Noncustodial parent on page 2.)

I agree not to claim an exemption for
Name of child

for the tax year(s)

.
(Specify. See instructions.)

Signature of custodial parent releasing claim to exemption

Part III

Custodial parent’s SSN

Date

Revocation of Release of Claim to Exemption for Future Year(s)

I revoke the release of claim to an exemption for
Name of child

for the tax year(s)

.
(Specify. See instructions.)

Signature of custodial parent revoking the release of claim to exemption

General Instructions
What’s New
New rules apply to allow the custodial
parent to revoke a previous release of
claim to exemption. For details, see
Revocation of release of claim to
exemption on this page.

Purpose of Form
If you are the custodial parent, you can
use this form to do the following.
● Release a claim to exemption for your
child so that the noncustodial parent can
claim an exemption for the child.
● Revoke a previous release of claim to
exemption for your child.
Release of claim to exemption. This
release of the exemption will also allow
the noncustodial parent to claim the child
tax credit and the additional child tax
credit (if either applies). Complete this
form (or sign a similar statement
containing the same information required
by this form) and give it to the
noncustodial parent. The noncustodial
parent must attach this form or similar

Custodial parent’s SSN

statement to his or her tax return each
year the exemption is claimed. Use Part I
to release a claim to the exemption for
the current year. Use Part II if you choose
to release a claim to exemption for any
future year(s).
Revocation of release of claim to
exemption. Use Part III to revoke a
previous release of claim to an
exemption. The revocation will be
effective no earlier than the tax year
following the year in which you provide
the noncustodial parent with a copy of
the revocation or make a reasonable
effort to provide the noncustodial parent
with a copy of the revocation. Therefore,
if you revoke a release on Form 8332 and
provide a copy of the form to the
noncustodial parent in 2009, the earliest
tax year the revocation can be effective is
2010. You must attach a copy of the
revocation to your tax return each year
the exemption is claimed as a result of
the revocation. You must also keep for
your records a copy of the revocation
and evidence of delivery of the notice to
the noncustodial parent, or of reasonable
efforts to provide actual notice.

For Paperwork Reduction Act Notice, see back of form.

Cat. No. 13910F

Date

Custodial Parent and
Noncustodial Parent
The custodial parent is the parent with
whom the child lived for the greater part
of the year. The other parent is the
noncustodial parent.
If the parents divorced or separated
during the year and the child lived with
both parents before the separation, the
custodial parent is the one with whom
the child lived for the greater part of the
rest of the year.
See Regulations section 1.152-4 for
more details on determining custody.

Exemption for a Dependent
Child
A dependent is either a qualifying child or
a qualifying relative. See your tax return
instruction booklet for the definition of
these terms. Generally, a child of
divorced or separated parents will be a
qualifying child of the custodial parent.
However, if the special rule on page 2
applies, then the child will be treated as
the qualifying child or qualifying relative
of the noncustodial parent for purposes
of the dependency exemption, the child
tax credit, and the additional child tax
credit.
Form

8332

(Rev. 2-2009)

Form 8332 (Rev. 2-2009)

Page

Special Rule for Children of
Divorced or Separated
Parents

1. The noncustodial parent can claim
the child as a dependent without regard
to any condition (such as payment of
support).

A child is treated as a qualifying child or
a qualifying relative of the noncustodial
parent if all of the following apply.

2. The other parent will not claim the
child as a dependent.
3. The years for which the claim is
released.
The noncustodial parent must attach
all of the following pages from the
decree or agreement.
● Cover page (include the other parent’s
SSN on that page).
● The pages that include all of the
information identified in (1) through (3)
above.
● Signature page with the other parent’s
signature and date of agreement.
The noncustodial parent must
attach the required information
even if it was filed with a return
CAUTION
in an earlier year.

1. The child received over half of his or
her support for the year from one or both
of the parents (see the Exception below).
Public assistance payments, such as
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families
(TANF), are not support provided by the
parents.
2. The child was in the custody of one
or both of the parents for more than half
of the year.
3. Either of the following applies.
a. The custodial parent agrees not to
claim an exemption for the child by
signing this form or a similar statement.
If the decree or agreement went into
effect after 1984, see Post-1984 decree
or agreement below.
b. A pre-1985 decree of divorce or
separate maintenance or written
separation agreement states that the
noncustodial parent can claim the child
as a dependent. But the noncustodial
parent must provide at least $600 for the
child’s support during the year. This rule
does not apply if the decree or
agreement was changed after 1984 to
say that the noncustodial parent cannot
claim the child as a dependent.
For this rule to apply, the parents
must be one of the following.
● Divorced or legally separated under a
decree of divorce or separate
maintenance.
● Separated under a written separation
agreement.
● Living apart at all times during the last
6 months of the year.
If this rule applies, and the other
dependency tests in your tax return
instruction booklet are also met, the
noncustodial parent can claim the
exemption for the child.
Exception. If the support of the child
is determined under a multiple support
agreement, this special rule does not
apply and this form should not be used.
Post-1984 decree or agreement. If the
divorce decree or separation agreement
went into effect after 1984 and before
2009, the noncustodial parent can attach
certain pages from the decree or
agreement instead of Form 8332. To be
able to do this, the decree or agreement
must state all three of the following.

The noncustodial parent can no longer
attach certain pages from a divorce
decree or separation agreement instead
of Form 8332 if the decree or agreement
was executed after 2008. If the decree or
separation agreement was executed
before 2009, the noncustodial parent can
continue to attach certain pages from the
decree or agreement as discussed
above.

Specific Instructions
Custodial Parent
Part I. Complete Part I to release a claim
to exemption for your child for the current
tax year.
Part II. Complete Part II to release a
claim to exemption for your child for one
or more future years. Write the specific
future year(s) or “all future years” in the
space provided in Part II.
To help ensure future support,
you may not want to release
your claim to the exemption for
the child for future years.
Part III. Complete Part III if you are
revoking a previous release of claim to
exemption for your child. Write the
specific future year(s) or “all future years”
in the space provided in Part III.

TIP

The revocation will be effective no
earlier than the tax year following the year
you provide the noncustodial parent with
a copy of the revocation or make a
reasonable effort to provide the
noncustodial parent with a copy of the
revocation. Also, you must attach a copy
of the revocation to your tax return for

2

each year you are claiming the exemption
as a result of the revocation. You must
also keep for your records a copy of the
revocation and evidence of delivery of the
notice to the noncustodial parent, or of
reasonable efforts to provide actual
notice.
Example. In 2007, you released a
claim to exemption for your child on
Form 8332 for the years 2008 through
2010. You would now like to revoke the
previous release of exemption. If you
complete Part III of Form 8332 and
provide a copy of the form to the
noncustodial parent in 2009, the
revocation will be effective for 2010.

Noncustodial Parent
Attach this form or similar statement to
your tax return for each year you claim
the exemption for your child. You can
claim the exemption only if the other
dependency tests in your tax return
instruction booklet are met.
If the custodial parent released
his or her claim to the
exemption for the child for any
future year, you must attach a
copy of this form or similar statement to
your tax return for each future year that
you claim the exemption. Keep a copy
for your records.

TIP

Paperwork Reduction Act Notice. We
ask for the information on this form to
carry out the Internal Revenue laws of
the United States. You are required to
give us the information. We need it to
ensure that you are complying with these
laws and to allow us to figure and collect
the right amount of tax.
You are not required to provide the
information requested on a form that is
subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act
unless the form displays a valid OMB
control number. Books or records
relating to a form or its instructions must
be retained as long as their contents may
become material in the administration of
any Internal Revenue law. Generally, tax
returns and return information are
confidential, as required by Internal
Revenue Code section 6103.
The average time and expenses
required to complete and file this form
will vary depending on individual
circumstances. For the estimated
averages, see the instructions for your
income tax return.
If you have suggestions for making this
form simpler, we would be happy to hear
from you. See the instructions for your
income tax return.