@shenderson128 wrote:
Also would you happen to know about credit for other dependents And dependent care credit? How can I know if I received that? Does it have anything to do with my CTC/actc?
If you live together unmarried and share a child, only one of you can list the child as a dependent. That person gets to claim all the tax benefits of the child. Usually, it is better for the parent who earns more money to claim the child, but the only way to know is to test it both ways before deciding how to file.
The child tax credit is up to $2000, but it is based on your taxable income and your income earned from working. If you are single, you need an income of at least $30,000 to get the full child tax credit or additional child tax credit.
To get the dependent care credit, you must pay for care so that you can work or got to school full time. The credit is on a sliding scale from 20% to 35% depending on income, but the credit is not refundable if you don't owe tax. So if your income is less than $30,000, your taxes will be covered by the child tax credit and you won't get any additional benefit for claiming dependent care. If your income is over $30,000, you will get some benefit, up to an additional $1250 or so.
If the person who pays more than half the household expenses is the person who claims the child as a dependent, that person can file using head of household status. That has lower tax rates than single status.
If the person with lower income claims the child, that person may qualify for EIC. The amount is on a sliding scale based on income.
Because the child tax credit, EIC, dependent care credit, and head of household rules are all slightly different, the only way to know which parent should claim the child for the most tax savings is to test it both ways.
