Is there an Illinois case law stating that since I pay the child support, I get to claim him every year on tax?

The State of Illinois cannot rule on federal matters. Your lawyer is either misinformed or is using an outdated ruling when advising you. The amount of support provided by a parent has not mattered under federal law since tax year 2005. PHYSICAL custody is ALL that matters. The amount of child support that you pay is irrelevant and gets you absolutely nothing. A decree initially entered prior to 2009 CAN award an exemption if very specific language is included in the decree and the decree does not place any preconditions on the award such as being current on child support or complying with visitation orders. Post 2008 decrees will be ignored regardless of the language. A decree (any year) can require the custodial parent to execute a Form 8332 under threat of a contempt of court citation as Bash correctly points out.

It would not matter if there was, since federal law trumps state laws and state court rulings on who can claim a child. At the state level, Illinois follows federal law on claiming exemptions for dependents. In fact, you simply copy the number of exemption allowances from your federal return to your IL-1040 return. Under federal law, the exemption claim goes to the custodial parent. Federal law defines the custodial parent as the one that the child lived with for the greater portion of the year. Child support paid is not a factor at all. The custodial parent can surrender the exemption and Child Tax Credit to the non-custodial parent by giving them a completed Form 8332 that the non-custodial parent then attaches to their return. Decrees are also ignored at the federal level. The decree can stipulate that the custodial parent will surrender a Form 8332 but if they fail to do so, the only recourse is through the court that issued the decree. The IRS will not award the exemption without the Form 8332. Contrary to one uninformed response, the support test is not how much support is provided by the parent but now much support the child provides for themselves. As long as the child does not provide more than half of their OWN support, they can be claimed as a dependent. There's a further support test for the children of divorced or separated parents (which includes parents who never married) that states that for either of them to claim the child, they must have provided more than half of the child's support between them. See IRS Pub 501 http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p501.pdf for further information.

Think about it. You are smart. Do you really think it is fair for the other parent if they are working to give you every tax deduction? That parent gets nothing for parenting full time?

Not for federal. May apply to IL state taxes, that's it.

No. The custodial parent gets the claim EVERY year, unless there's a court order with valid wording saying that you do. The custodial parent, if they want to, can allow the other parent to claim them by giving them a signed form 8332 releasing the exemption to them. Stay safe on your deployment.

Even if there was, it would not matter. Federal law says that the IRS must follow only federal law, and must ignore any and all state case law. Federal law also says that you cannot claim anyone if the reason for your claim is that you pay child support. Federal law also says that you cannot claim anyone for whom you pay child support unless you would also have been able to claim the person if you had not claimed job support. Finally, federal law says the IRS must not allow you to claim anyone whom federal law says you cannot claim, even if state case law says you can claim the person.

ask your lawyer to verify it as far as Ill law is concerned but as far as IRS is concerned, paying child support does NOT entitle you to claim the child the rule is, the parent with whom the child spends the majority 'nites' with claims the child you very likely have as many as 183 nites with the child, you are not eligible to claim the child, except if the mother signs the #8332 waiver to allow you

Not from IL but this is what Ik now child support is not an automatic gimme for the child exemption. The tax law tends to side with the custodial parent (meaning the one that has the child more days out of the year). In a divorce tax matters are an issue that needs to be settled, the most common and fair one is to alternating year over year. There is more but this is the short of it

if you referring to Federal income taxes = No. to claim a child for tax purposes you must provide 51% of child's living costs. u can google IL tax agency for info on state's 'dependent' claims.