I have two children that live with me, I am the custodial parent. I allowed their fathers to claim them this year. I'm trying to do my taxes and they keep getting rejected. My kids live with me well over 1/2 the year but when I put in 7 months or higher, my taxes get rejected because the IRS claims that someone else is claiming them as a dependent. TT shows no errors but the IRS rejects them. Following IRS and TT instructions, I reduced the number of months my kids lived with me to 5 months (which isn't how long they live with me each year) so that they are not showing as "dependents" but then the status changes from "nondependent - for EIC/child care dependent only" to "non-dependent" and then won't allow me to claim the child care expenses.
I have changed the months from 5 months to 6 months - no errors from TT but IRS rejects. I changed to 7 months - no errors from TT but IRS rejects. If I change back to 5 months I can't claim the child care expenses.
I'm at my wits end. I don't know how to fix this when I'm getting mixed information.
Any ideas?
Thank you
