<prompt> Human: My ex and I have shared custody of our 17 year old kid. I pay child support and our divorce decree grants me the right to claim our kid as dependent for income tax. My kid works a part time job after school and is saving up to buy a car. My ex is resentful that I can claim our kid on my taxes and has told my child that I should be paying back that amount to him to help fund the car. I am ok with giving him money but we disagree on how much. My ex is saying I should give him 3500 because thats the deduction for claiming a dependent, but that doesnt make sense to me. How do I determine what I should give a dependent for claiming them on my taxes? I am thinking I should base it on the income tax deducted on my kids paychecks. Does that make it fair?  <response>: Your child would be unable to claim himself as independent on his own tax forms because he is not providing for 51 of their own needs. So there is no fair amount to give to him as you are not taking anything from him by continuing to claim him as a dependent.If you wish to contribute to your childs savings to help with the car, then by all means do so. But I would not recommend structuring it as a return of the income tax they paid simply because it will give them an unreal expectation of how income taxes work. And obviously the 3500 is wrong, because that is a deduction not a credit - you do not pay 3950 less in tax because of your child, but you do save on paying income taxes on 3950 of your money. 