No tax credit for Tracy

The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away..... When she is truely an adult, you won't have any leverage on her because she will have learned how to apply the principles of life to make a way for herself.
Many times you can't make someone change thier ways, but you "do" have control over what you do. If the car is in your name you can sell it until she finds a way to be thankful for her next one.

These decisions are hard for most moms... Dad is the one who has the best instincts many times becuase they can shelve the emotion better. I know dad is not around, so you get to be dad too!

Many times we emotionally think we are doing them good to enable them when in reality we are protecting our own feelings of worrys and the "what ifs" than haunt our decisions. There is a season for everything.. there is a season to love through blessing and a season to love through discipline.

I find that discipline is most often indicated when they expect mercy and mercy is most often indicated when they expect discipline! It has alot to do with thier pride and arrogance as to which should be applied.

If she thinks she is an adult, then why are you doing "anything" that can be rated as good?

I tell my son, he is not an adult until he has mastered life enough to make it on his own and be profitable to himself as well as others.
Just because someone reaches 18, that is only a cronological biological happening... it does not mean they are an adult!

It tell him when he can do it on his own without my assistance then I will respect him as an adult, until then, he should expect to hear suggestions, comments, and "boundaries" that stipulate my rules. If he don't like my rules, then he is free to do it on his own under his rules?

They need to see that living under your rules is easier on them than living under thier rules... and sometimes you have to let them hit bottom to see that.
You have alot of support you can pull if she refuses to work with you.

So now she gets to run around in a damaged car that is keyed?.. don't fix it if its drivable... only fix it enough to be safe transportation.. don't worry about pretty.. give her something to live with that is a reminder of her actions.

Teaching a child that their friends are really lost souls in survival mode trying to find their way using anyone and everyone the can is a hard lesson.
When she gets burned a few times without you bailing her out she will see better.

These are issues that are possibly byproducts of years of both of you trying to survive the best way you can, but threats are totally empty without occasional action.

Sit down with her now and ask her "do you want to be an adult that does what they want without rules and instruction?
Now ask her "just what is an adult anyway?"

Take a sheet of paper and on one side write "income" and on the other write "expenses"
... be very liberal with her in your estimates but realistic in how much she will make.
Remember when your done to take off what uncle sam will get.

Now Ask her what she expects to make on her present course?.. in one year?
Where does she hope to get a job?
How much will she bring home after taxes?
Now go to imagination land and ask her where she would like to live and how much does that cost?
What kind of car does she want? And what would that cost per month?
How about gas?...
Add car insurance... "find out what hers would cost on her own" it will be nasty!
Figure out what she routinely eats a day and how much that costs?
Utilities?
What about clothes?
Just how many hours will she have to work to get this? and when will she have time for social life?
How much does laundry soap cost?... Does she own a washer and dryer?
What about a cellphone?.. a telephone?.. Cable tv?... internet?
What about unexpected medical expenses... dentist?..will she have insurance?..
Will her employer pay for it, or how much will it cost her?

Now that you have her attention, add all that up and weigh it against what she makes and see how much she will have to spend on herself and recreation, movies, etc.
Remind her this is a fork in the road of life... which way is her destiny?
Who is she following? and where will they be in 5 years?.. what about 10?

Ask her how wonderful her life is going to be without more education?.. remind her that time marches on whether she gets educated or not and the longer she waits the less likely she will have opportunity, she may get pregnant or plunged into a situation where she has to work so much that college is impossible?

Is a guy going to rescue her? What will be the cost? and what if he leaves later?

Until she has answered all those questions and can deal with them, she hasn't even "planned" on how to be an adult... let alone actually be one.

One excellent easy solution is if they can get turned on about the armed services.. they get income, education, college, attitude adjustment, benifits for life etc.

Something to think about after you hit her with all this?

None of this is my business, but I hope something I said helps?

 

So how do we know if we will get the credit or not? I was told we would get it when we bought ours yesterday, but how do I know for sure? Do they count how much $ you make as a couple when you have 2 people on the title? In that case wed probably be disqualified. Hmm.

 

You did not name the "earned income credit" in your previous post and the rest of us were talking about the credit from the Energy Policy Act of 2005, which does indeed have something to do with AMT.
Please try to communicate more clearly.

 

You will get the full credit if your tax liability is ~$3150 more than your AMT.
Please read the section on Alternate_Minimum_Tax in our FAQ.
It has links to informative articles and tools for calculating your AMT.

 

Its going to be based on how you file with IRS.... not who is on the title.... there is a primary and a secondary signer if you both signed.. they won't let you both claim.. only the primary.

So consider how the primary signer files thier taxes and base it on that...

If the primary signer files seperately but you have 2 on the title, I would think that the the IRS status of the primary signer is what would take precedence.


I'm not a cpa and I'm not speaking from knowledge just my common sense which could be wrong.

 

That means you are having a bad hair day.

 

My original post in all its glory:

"This brings me back to an earlier example of federal taxes under a certain income. The government has designed a way to make sure the well to do cannot reduce their taxes to zero. The government also has designed a way for the non well to do to reduce their federal taxes into the negative (earned income credit). By negative, I mean getting back more than you paid.

All hail class politics."

Dun dun duuuuuuuuuunnnnnnn ! B)

"Who loves ya, baby ? "

 

Like 7 pages back?
Gee, do not know how I could have missed that when replying to your post on this page!

 

Oh all right. You win. <_<

 

How about sending her here http://www.bgtm.org/ or maybe a good military school?

Andy

 

i'm no parent... especially not of someone that age... but i did rather recently get through my teens. probably more recently than many people here.

i'm 23, to those of you wondering.

i'm curious Tracy, just what do you do for her? i know you bought her a car. you said she now pays for her own insurance and cell phone. did you originally pay for them for her? it sounds like you've treated her a little too well over the years and she's never learned to be thankful.

you don't know how good you had it unless you go through a period of not having it so good to compare.

a little tough love may help. expect her to carry her own weight. so she pays for her own insurance and phone, which is a start. but how about housework? kids are messy. clothes? those are expensive. does she have a curfew? what's her punishment for breaking the rules? she has to know she needs to earn whatever she gets. that's the real world and she's heading for a rough time in it as soon as you get her out of the house unless she makes a change or 10.

if she's doing drugs and all that stupid stuff (you mentioned her friends do, and it's easy to guess she does too), she has to get the money for it from somewhere. if you demand more of her money (for example, rent money once she graduates, car payment to help pay for her car, if she wants something you don't have in teh house for dinner she can get it herself, etc.) don't give her spending money, let her learn to manage on her own income.

she's soon going to have an electric bill, rent, food, and all sorts of other bills of her own that mom shouldn't be helping her with. she has to learn to budget.

i'd say help her through high school, but don't put up with her crap. if she punches you, don't punch back. go find her car keys and lock them away. she's not treating you nearly as well as you're treating her. it's a give-take relationship. you're giving and she's taking. if she goes too far, you take back. once she's graduated, give her a few months to find a place and get settled. and don't you bail her out when she spends all her rent money on stupid crap. she has to learn the hard way it seems, and you bailing her out won't help her learn.

i'm not trying to be critical of you here. i hope you don't take it personal. one of my closest friends was a learn-the-hard-way kid. pregnant at age 17, had moved in with her boyfriend before graduating high school, had to take summer classes to graduate early before having the baby, got married, learned real quick to support herself because mom wouldn't help her out. all her mom did was provide outfits and christmas presents for the little one. so she overcharged all her credit cards, got separated from her husband, bounced around between boyfriends with a little kid in tow. now, at 22, she's perfectly straightened out, no more drugs, very little drinking, steady job, attentive parent, you name it. it just took a few years of being tossed into real life to make her figure out where her priorities were.

i hope it doesn't take that much for your daughter to learn where her priorities are.

 

tracy, faaaar be it for me to give advice on how to raise children... my son used to have to talk reason into me... he is only 9.

but... i was a kid too and admit to probably not acting my age... i will have to say at that age, no one could tell me anything. i had to go out and make my own mistakes. i know its hard for you to watch her go out and make mistakes that you know are coming. but the more you try to guide her, the farther she may stray.

best thing you can do is to give advice when she asks for it. be reasonable in your support. (there is very little you have to give her, but at the same time, its a tough world out there and you want her to at least have the same chance as anyone else). at that age, no one is gonna believe that anyone can totally understand what they have to go through. everyone thinks their problems are unique...only with age will they realize that we are all basically the same. establish rules that cannot be broken and stick with them. all time is precious no matter what the age, but sometimes a little pain is the only way to learn some of the harder lessons in life.

i guess the only thing i can say is... (since i havent really said anything useful yet) maintain the relationship. even if its a barely controlled grudgingly given tacit understanding of her lifestyle, keeping the lines of communication open is key to getting her on the right track. granted, there will probably be a lot of tongue biting to keep from giving her step by step instructions on how to get back on the straight and narrow, but the "told you so" thing almost never helps.