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You can only claim a dependent and related credits (like the Earned Income Credit [EIC]) if certain criteria are met. If the criteria are not met, you will want to remove the dependent from your return. To remove the dependent, go to My Info (left-hand menu bar), and make the adjustments there.
Here are the criteria for claiming a child as a dependent, along with the EIC:
Below are the requirements for a someone to be considered a qualifying child:
Dependent taxpayer test: The taxpayer, or spouse of the taxpayer if filing jointly, cannot be eligible to be claimed as a dependent on someone else’s tax return.
Married Filing Jointly test: If you file a joint return with your spouse, you cannot be treated as a dependent. (This rule does not apply if the joint return was filed only as a claim for refund and no tax liability would exist for either spouse if they had filed separate returns).
Citizen or resident test: The person claimed as a dependent must be either a U.S. citizen, U.S. national, U.S. resident alien, or a resident of Canada or Mexico. An adopted child that lived with the taxpayer all year passes this test if the taxpayer is a U.S. citizen or U.S. national.
Qualifying Child
In addition to the above, you must be able to answer "yes" to all of the following questions to claim an exemption for your child.
Relationship test: The child must be the taxpayer’s son, daughter, stepchild, foster child, brother, sister, stepbrother, stepsister, half brother, half sister, or a descendant of any of these, such as the taxpayer’s grandchild, niece, or nephew.
Residency test: The child must have lived with the taxpayer for more than half of 2019.
Age test: The child must be
• Under age 19 at the end of the tax year and younger than the taxpayer (or spouse), or
• Under age 24 at the end of 2019, a full-time student for any part of five calendar months during the tax year, and younger than the taxpayer (or spouse), or
• Permanently and totally disabled at any age
Support Test: The child cannot have provided more than 1/2 of his/her own support during the tax year. Welfare, TANF, and scholarships received by the child are not considered support.
Next, you must meet the below criteria to claim the EIC:
The taxpayer must have earned income. Earned income includes:
The following forms of income are not earned income:
For the EIC, a child can only be claimed by one taxpayer. In cases where a child meets the qualifying child requirements for more than one taxpayer, the tiebreaker rules must be applied.
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