Should we file an amendment for this?

[Tra1497]

Our son, who is on SSI, lived with us for 7 months out of 12 in 2019. We received the Earned Income Credit for him, and as such, he was not able to receive a stimulus check. I just checked our return and noticed on the form where it asks how many months he lived with us, we put 12. Should we file an amendment to change this on the form? I always thought that if a dependent lived with you for 7 months or more, you should indicate 12 months. If we are possibly going to be audited, would this make a difference? He is 31-years old.

Thanks in advance!

[xmasbaby0]

It will not end up making a difference.  The fact that you claimed your son as a dependent means he cannot get a stimulus check even if you had said he lived with you for only 7 months.  Being claimed as a dependent made him ineligible to receive a stimulus check.

But how did you receive EIC for him?  Did you say he is totally disabled?  Did you enter his date of birth accurately?

Did he truly meet the criteria for you to claim him as a dependent?

IRS interview to help determine who can be claimed:

https://www.irs.gov/help/ita/who-can-i-claim-as-a-dependent

[Critter]

Consider this ... on the 2020 return you could possibly not claim him and he could get the $1200 stimulus check  HOWEVER  what would you be giving up ?    He is worth up to $500 on the other dependent credit + the EIC ... so not correctly claiming him would most likely be an overall loss between both returns.  In other words, claiming him correctly is a win win situation. 

[Tra1497]

Thank you so much for answering. I made a mistake in my post in that we received the "Credit for Other Dependents" for him. He is totally disabled, and we did mark the date of birth down right. But, we received the EIC for ourselves. 

[Tra1497]

Thank you for answering. We did claim him correctly, except for12 months not 7. Either way, he was a dependent in our home. I had posted incorrectly in that we didn't get credit for him on the EIC, it was for the "Credit for Other Dependent." What I'm wondering is if the change from 12 months to 7 is necessary since either way, we were able to claim him as a dependent.

[Lisac584]

I could give you a long and technical answer but to keep it short. No!  An amendment return is not needed