As Opus 17 says, the "cap" in on the EIC, but as I posted above, the parent that does not physically live with the child can NEVER claim the EIC anyway. The MOST that parent can claim if you release the dependent, is the child tax credit - nothing more. Both the EIC and child care credit (for children under age 13), require that the child physically lived with the parent more then half the year.
**Disclaimer: This post is for discussion purposes only and is NOT tax advice. The author takes no responsibility for the accuracy of any information in this post.**
