No. You answer that question for the time the child actually lived with you, even if it is 0 months*. The interview will then ask if the custodial parent has given you permission to claim the child. You will be allowed the Child Tax credit** but not the EIC. You also cannot claim the day care credit or use Head of Household filing status (unless you have a different qualifying person).
*For example, if you had the child every weekend; 52 weeks x 2 days =104 days / 30 = 3.3 months. Enter 3 when asked how long the child lived with you. Since you are the non-custodial parent, your answer must be something less than 6.
**For 2018 you only get the child tax credit. For 2017, and early years, you also got the dependent exemption deduction.
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There is a
special rule in the case of divorced & separated (including never married) parents.
When the non-custodial parent is claiming the child as a
dependent/child tax credit; the custodial parent is still allowed to
claim the same child for Earned Income Credit, Head of Household filing status,
and day care credit. This "splitting of the child" is not available
to parents who lived together at any time during the last 6 months of the year;
then only one of you can claim the child for any tax reasons. The tax benefits
may not be split in any other manner.
Note in particular
that the non-custodial parent can never claim the Earned Income Credit, Head of
Household filing status or the day care credit, based on that child, even when the custodial parent has released
the exemption to him.
So, it's good idea to let the other parent know that you
will be claiming those items, as many first time divorced parents are not aware
of this rule and may try to claim those items, which will cause the IRS to send
out letters.
Ref: https://www.irs.gov/publications/p17#en_US_2017_publink1000170897
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