IRS Notice CP87B

[Lord_Tasho]

Hi

Today my younger son who's 7 and myself both received the IRS Notice CP87B.  This is a two part question, please see the "me" and "son" section.

Me:  The top of the left letter states that I am claiming my 7 year old as a dependent/ qualifying child.  It lists the last four digits of his SS.  I have verified the SS number on my son's card the tax return.  This leads me to the bottom of the letter where if I listed my son as a dependent/ qualifying child that I don't need to contact IRS to do anything.

Is this correct that I do not need to do anything?

Son:  My son's letter on the right states that I did not check the box on the 2024 federal income tax claiming him as a dependent.  The middle part of the letter said that if you are someone's dependent that I should file an Form 1040x to amend the tax return.  I have verified that on his 2024 federal tax return that he is being claimed by someone (that is me the parent).

What should I do?

[DoninGA]

If you are not being claimed as a dependent on someone else's tax return, you do need to do anything concerning this IRS notice.

Information on an IRS CP87B notice - https://www.irs.gov/individuals/understanding-your-cp87b-notice

• If you don’t qualify as someone's dependent, you don’t need to contact us or take any action.

[Lord_Tasho]

Hi

My son is being claimed by me in my tax return.  On his return, I selected that he can be claimed as a dependent of another person (aka the parent).

[VolvoGirl]

First of all may I ask you why your 7 year old son needs to file a tax return? 

Apparently his return that the IRS got did not have him listed as being your dependent.   You do need to amend his return to check the box that Someone can claim You as a dependent.  "You" meaning the son.   Double check his return in the Standard Deduction section on the first page.

[Lord_Tasho]

Hi

I filed a return for him because his custodial Charles Schwab account had some income.

The box for "Someone can claim You (the son) as a dependent" was already checked from the beginning when I filed his return.  Likewise, the box below that was checked as well for me including him on my return.

[Lord_Tasho]

As mentioned in the previous message, both boxes on his return was checked as Yes.

[VolvoGirl]

Sorry, I don't follow you.  Where is that screen shot from?  That's not how it shows on the first page of the 1040 .  And if that is from your return it looks wrong. 

But the IRS letter for son does say he didn't check the box indicating someone can claim  you.  Maybe it got changed before you filed his return, or it was wrong when you filed his and got changed right later.  I would go ahead and amend his return to make sure that b ox is checked or call the IRS.  

Here's a 2023 screenshot showing where to check......

[Lord_Tasho]

The previous screen shot is from the Turbo Tax software when you switch from Step-by-Step to Forms.

Here's a screen shot from the 1040 PDF.  No, it was not changed after I submitted the filing.  "You as a dependent" was already checked off when I submitted his return the first time.