Can I claim 2 out of my 4 dependents, but only take the EIC for one of them? Girlfriend (same house, she makes more) claimed the other 2 kids, but got the EIC for 3/4.

[alberto-tello]

Girlfriend filed first, claimed 2 oldest as dependents and 2 youngest as non dependents; she automatically got the EIC for 3 oldest (the limit, from my understanding). Her return was accepted. I claimed the youngest 2 as dependents and older 2 as nondependents, and from my understanding, it automatically tried to do the 3 for the EIC for myself, as well, and mine was rejected. Can I, and if so, how on Turbo Tax do I claim the youngest two as dependents while only taking the EIC for the one child she didn’t? I can’t figure out how to manually do that.

[Mike9241]

maybe your GF did something wrong because to get the EIC for a child the child must be a qualifying child and only one person can claim a child as a qualifying child.

To qualify for the Earned Income Credit (EIC), a child must meet the following criteria:

1. The child can be your biological child, adopted child, stepchild, foster child or grandchild. The child also can be your sibling, half-sibling, step-sibling, or any of their children.

2. The child must have a valid Social Security number.

3. The child must meet all 4 tests for a qualifying child.

4.  The child cannot be claimed by more than one person as a qualifying child.

https://www.irs.gov/credits-deductions/individuals/earned-income-tax-credit/qualifying-child-rules 

why are you listing the two  non-dependents?

[NCperson]

@alberto-tello please explain who is bio to whom..... which children are yours' biologically and which are hers' biologically.  for the non-dependents, what are the relationships of these individuals to you and her?  using the word "non-dependents" doesn't mean what I think you are trying to communicate; "non-dependents" can't be listed on a tax return, so I think you mean something else.  How much of 2024 did these "non-dependents" list with you or her? All year? or something less than that. 

[alberto-tello]

Hello, thank you for the reply. All four are biologically ours,  we are both on the birth certificates for all four, and all four have lived with us, together, for the entire year (since birth). When filing, she was able to list the dependents but then indicate that someone else (me) was claiming them. Once she did that, where it lists the dependents then, under My Info on TurboTax, it showed the two she was claiming as dependents and the two that she listed, but indicated someone else was claiming, as “non dependents” which is where that term came from.

Her returns have both now gone through and mine have both been rejected, and we’re not sure how to fix it — if she needs to amend or if there’s some way to fix it on my end. 

[NCperson]

@alberto-tello there was no reason to list 'non-dependents'.  Your tax return rejected because you both listed the same child.  

Your only recourse is to paper file.  You can claim the 4th child.   If you want to claim any of the first three, then SHE would have to amend to remove that child and THEN once her amendment fully processed, you could claim that child.  It would have to occur in that order. 

Once an SSN is used, no one else, can efile using that same SSN.  Therefore, you have to paper file.