topic Re: death of a child in Deductions & credits

death of a child

kandeekane — Wed, 11 Feb 2026 10:04:28 GMT

My son was born and passed away 2 days later. I was told that I could claim him and get the child tax credit. I claimed him and then when I got my taxes back they had deducted all of the child tax credit and everything else that had to do with him which then significantly reduced my return. Did I not submit something correctly. We did not apply for a social security number for him so the tax instructions said to write deceased on the form in place of the SS#

Re: death of a child

FranklinF — Wed, 31 Jul 2024 16:54:19 GMT

FIRSTLY, my condolences for the passing of your son.

Per the IRS:
If you meet all of the other requirements to claim the child as a dependent, you usually must provide a taxpayer identifying number (TIN) for the child. If your child was born and died in 2023 and didn't have an SSN or other TIN, instead of a TIN, you may enter "DIED" in column 2 of the Dependents section of Form 1040, U.S. Individual Income Tax Return or Form 1040-SR, U.S. Tax Return for Seniors and attach a copy of the child's birth certificate, death certificate, or a hospital record showing a live birth.

Earned Income Credit & Child Tax Credit

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Re: death of a child

kandeekane — Wed, 31 Jul 2024 16:52:28 GMT

I did all of that. I efiled. Do I need to physically send in a paper return? Also this was in 2021. Do I need to file an amended return?

Re: death of a child

FranklinF — Wed, 31 Jul 2024 16:58:17 GMT

First check, if the tax return was received and processed by the IRS before you take any action.
IRS: 1-800-829-1040.

In addition, you may open an account with the IRS using ID.me which make things faster.

Re: death of a child

kandeekane — Wed, 31 Jul 2024 17:03:55 GMT

Yes they received it cuz I received my return. But they had deducted at least a couple thousand dollars from the return. I think it was supposed to be somewhere around $3000 cuz of the covid child stipend back then. The return they sent me was only for about $800 instead of $3000.

Re: death of a child

FranklinF — Wed, 31 Jul 2024 17:13:09 GMT

I will strongly encourage you to visit a local tax practitioner to address the specific issues of your tax returns.

Also you may contact your local Tax Advocate Organization.
Taxpayer Advocate Service

Re: death of a child

Mike9241 — Tue, 27 Aug 2024 06:21:41 GMT

@kandeekane sorry for your loss. if you e-filed how did you manage to attach a birth and death certificate ur hospital records? That's not possible with Turbotax.

Re: death of a child

xmasbaby0 — Tue, 27 Aug 2024 16:11:08 GMT

@kandeekane So very sorry for the loss of your child. You seem to be saying in your post above that when you filed your tax return that you "attached" copies of the child's birth certificate, death certificate, etc. But if you used TurboTax to prepare your tax return and e-filed it, that simply would not have been possible. It is not possible to attach pdf's of any sort to an e-filed return when you use TurboTax. If you filed by mail, and attached paper copies, that would be different---and that is what you should have done in order to provide those documents to the IRS. Can you clarify for us----how did you file---did you e-file or did you file by mail?