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. January 2010)

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
Post-2008 decree or agreement. If the
divorce decree or separation agreement went
into effect after 2008, the noncustodial parent
cannot attach certain pages from the decree
or agreement instead of Form 8332. See
Release of claim to exemption below.
Definition of custodial parent. New rules
apply to determine who is the custodial parent
and the noncustodial parent. See Custodial
Parent and Noncustodial Parent 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

Custodial parent’s SSN

information required by this form) and give it to
the noncustodial parent. The noncustodial
parent must attach this form or similar
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).
Note. If the decree or agreement went into
effect after 1984 and before 2009, you can
attach certain pages from the decree or
agreement instead of Form 8332, provided
that these pages are substantially similar to
Form 8332. See Post-1984 and pre-2009
decree or agreement on page 2.
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 revoked a
release on Form 8332 and provided a copy of
the form to the noncustodial parent in 2010,
the earliest tax year the revocation can be
effective is 2011. 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

For Paperwork Reduction Act Notice, see back of form.

Cat. No. 13910F

Date

of delivery of the notice to the noncustodial
parent, or of reasonable efforts to provide
actual notice.

Custodial Parent and
Noncustodial Parent
The custodial parent is generally the parent
with whom the child lived for the greater
number of nights during the year. The
noncustodial parent is the other parent. If the
child was with each parent for an equal
number of nights, the custodial parent is the
parent with the higher adjusted gross income.
For details and an exception for a parent who
works at night, see Pub. 501.

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. 1-2010)

Form 8332 (Rev. 1-2010)

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 and before 2009, see
Post-1984 and pre-2009 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 an
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 and pre-2009 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, provided that
these pages are substantially similar to
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.

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
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.

2

Example. In 2007, you released a
claim to exemption for your child on
Form 8332 for the years 2008 through
2012. In 2010, you decided to revoke
the previous release of exemption. If you
completed Part III of Form 8332 and
provided a copy of the form to the
noncustodial parent in 2010, the
revocation will be effective for 2011 and
2012. You must attach a copy of the
revocation to your 2011 and 2012 tax
returns and keep certain records as
stated earlier.

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

Note. If you are filing your return
electronically, you must file Form 8332
with Form 8453, U.S. Individual Income
Tax Transmittal for an IRS e-file Return.
See Form 8453 and its instructions for
more details.
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.