My understanding is that I can.  However, my work is in another state.  How would I go about filing with dependent children if I'm claiming income and domicile in another state for more than half the year?

Thank you Roger.  I would agree that this would qualify as a "temporary" absence, even though it's for more than half the year.  Would I just list my wife & children as residents with me, as if they physically lived with me, for the purposes of filing?  This is where I anticipate trouble, especially when dealing with an online form application such as Turbo Tax.  I'm trying to be honest, but if the form doesn't fit my situation exactly, how do I proceed?

You would treat the residence where your family lives as your permanent residence unless you have actually changed your permanent residence. See this TurboTax article on how to handle income from more than one state: <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tools/tax-tips/Tax-Planning-and-Checklists/Multiple-States---Figurin...>

Ok.  However, if there is a question about if my children lived with me the entire year, if I answer honestly, then it will not allow the Child Tax Credit, correct?  The Turbo Tax application will assume that we are separated and that she has custody, and hence I cannot claim them as dependents.  On the contrary we are very happily married, I financially provide for my entire family year-round, I just happen to not be there for about 7-months.  Am I wrong?  If not, how would I remedy this?  Thanks again Roger for your time and input!!

When either you or the children are absent temporarily, the correct answer is that you lived together the entire year. This is the honest answer based on tax law since tax law allows for temporary absences to be considered as living together.

Ok!  So answer as if we'd been together the entire time!  Thank you again Roger for the advice!

If you are filing jointly with your spouse it does not matter if you live with them at all as long as one of the joint spouses does.  A joint return is one return for both of you.   There is no question question of custody or who lived with the child on a joint return, that is only for married filing separately for parents that are separated and live apart.

Thanks MacUser_22!  This is also similar to how we've felt.  I just remember in the past the Turbo Tax application questioning if "this child lived with you more than half the year..." or something like that.  It was never an issue before, but now this year and also in 2017 I have lived away for about 7 months of the year.  It seems we can move forward Business As Usual.

On a joint return that question applies to both joint taxpayers so the answer is they lived with the taxpayer the whole year  (lived with either one or both taxpayers on the joint return).    The "you" in the question is poor wording, but it applies to either taxpayer on the joint return, only one of which needs to have lived with the children.

In addition, as Texas Roger said, if the home where you spouse and children live is your domicile (where you reside, get your mail, vote, etc) and you are only away temporary in order to work, then temporary absences count as time lived at home, unless you have established residence in another location.