"Dependent already claimed for earned income credit" Help please!

[cassielua]

My significant other and I have 2 kids together. We are unmarried and live together with other family. We both had entered both of our kids on each of our returns to compare which would benefit us the best. We agreed to claim one child each on our return. He submitted his return first with both kids as in dependents section but clicked that the other parent (me) will be claiming one of the kids. I submitted my return after and received email that my return is rejected due to dependent already claimed for earned income credit. Is this because my partner had both kids on his return even though he claimed only one as his dependent and marked off that the other dependent will be claimed by the other parent? 

Does he need to amend his return and completely take off the dependent that I am suppose to claim? Should I wait to re-file my return until he amends his return or can I go ahead and submit my return? 

Sorry in advance for so many questions, but just want to get more clarity since it is now past the deadline. 

[Vanessa A]

Yes.  Because the kids live with you both for the entire year, when he said you would be claiming the other child, he was treated as the custodial parent and you were treated as the non custodial parent. 

He can amend his return to change this so you can then claim your child and get the EITC. 

Do be aware, that if you are both claiming head of household, it could come back at you because in order to claim head of household you must pay OVER half of the cost of the home.  If you are both claiming head of household for the same home you both cannot pay OVER half of the costs of the home.   So be sure that you both do not say that you are.

[xmasbaby0]

Going forward---

If you are a non-married couple who live together with your children, then only one of you can claim the child(ren) and the one not claiming the child does not enter anything at all on their tax return about the child.   The “sharing” of child-related credits you may have heard about is only possible between divorced or never married parents who live apart and share custody and who have a written agreement to share the credits.    The child’s SSN can only be entered on one tax return.   Any other return with the child’s SSN on it will be rejected.   If you are a family, then work out how to share the refund between yourselves.

And....if you decide to "each" claim one child-- as @Vanessa A Vanessa A pointed out, you cannot both use the Head of Household filing status.  Only one of you can say you paid over half of the costs of running the household.   So one of you files Single and claims a child, one files HOH and claims a child.  Or....one of you claims both children as explained above.

[cassielua]

@Vanessa A Thank you for replying and giving more information on this. Should he amend his return asap or wait until its gets processed? And should I wait for him to do all of this or can I mail in my return asap?

[AnnetteB6]

It is better to wait until his return has processes before it is amended.  That way there is no question about where things stand.  Also, until his amended return is processed, your return will still be rejected, so it will be a while before you can submit your return, either electronically or by mail.  

@cassielua 

[mesquitebean]

Edited for clarity 4/17/2025 at 5:44 AM Pacific

@cassielua 

After you follow the important points that @Vanessa A  @xmasbaby0  and @AnnetteB6  all mentioned above to be sure you and your significant other are on the same wavelength, you can try the following, if you wish, and you may be able to efile without a rejection and avoid filing a paper return.

New this year:

If a dependent has already been claimed on another return and causes a rejection of the second return, the IRS now allows the first-listed (primary) taxpayer on the rejected return to get an IP PIN (a 6-digit Identity Protection PIN) and still successfully efile their return and avoid having to file a return on paper.     I have seen users in this forum where it has worked. and the rejected filer was able to efile successfully.     The IRS says:

"Beginning in the 2025 filing season, the IRS will accept Forms 1040, 1040-NR and 1040-SS even if a dependent has already been claimed on a previously filed return as long as the primary taxpayer on the second return includes a valid Identity Protection Personal Identification Number (IP PIN). This change will reduce the time for the agency to receive the tax return and accelerate the issuance of tax refunds for those with duplicate dependent returns. In previous years, the second tax return had to be filed by paper."

"This change will benefit filers claiming important tax credits like the Earned Income Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit."  

"In the scenario where the dependent has already been claimed on another tax return, the IP PIN provides an important new option. The taxpayer listed first on an e-filed tax return claiming dependents can provide their current year IP PIN when they file. If they do, the return will still be accepted."     The others listed on the return do NOT need to provide an IP PIN if they don’t have one.

IRS Source:

https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-takes-steps-to-help-prevent-refund-delays-by-accepting-duplicate-de...