Amending 2024 and 2023 taxes

[CCrain]

I have been raising my grandchildren, paying for all of their care for the entire year for 2023 and 2024.  I do I find out if someone else claimed my 3 grandchildren?  How do I amend my 2023 taxes to include them.  Currently I don't have a social security number for my 2 year grandson and wasn't able to claim him on my 2024 taxes.  I hope to have his SS# in a couple months.  How do I amend my 2024 taxes to include him.

[Vanessa A]

If they lived with you for the entire year, and their parent did not, then you would be the only one entitled to claim them. To claim a child as a qualifying child, they must live with your for more than 6 months out of the year.  You would not be able to figure out if someone else claimed them without filing a return.  If it is rejected for duplicate SSN then someone else probably claimed them.  You would need to print and mail your 2023 return anyways, so you would end up getting a letter from the IRS asking for proof that they lived with you and not the other person who claimed them (IF someone else did)

Yes, when you get your 2 year old grandsons SSN you can amend your return to add him as a dependent.