Can not get child set as "Non-dependent, use for HOH and EIC"

[Dust0000]

Hello, my wife and I are filing Married and Jointly. She has a child from a previous marriage. We have always been able to easily switch back and forth each year that we have a court custody agreement with her ex-husband that allows him to claim her every other year. This year when I went to select that we have an agreement the was an info link about form 8332 but no box or anything to select that this is not our year to claim her.

Other entries give answers like this one:

 You do this by carefully answering the questions in the dependent interview in turbotax by saying yes you have a dependent, and yes you are signing a form 8332 to allow the ex to claim the exemption. Turbotax will assign a special status to your children of "Non-dependent, use for HOH and EIC".

There is no box or question to answer to allow other parent to claim and it shows her as a dependent. This is not correct and we need the ability to have her set as a non-dependent, use for HOH and EIC. We are using the downloaded Turbotax Deluxe version. Information was transferred from 2019 taxes where we claimed her. I tried to edit her information, could not change her status. Tried to delete her and add her new again, could not change her status. Tried to import 2018 turbo tax file and PDF where she was a non-dependent status, import would not go through and it needs to be the 2019 file to import.

[Hal_Al · Accepted solution]

I think there's a glitch.  At the screen titled "Do you have a custody agreement", click the box  "I don't have a custody agreement".  That gets me the right follow up  question (yes, I'm letting the other parent claim  the child).  I have download Deluxe. 

I've reported this to TT.

[Dust0000]

Thank you, I can confirm that this has allowed me to go through and answer the question that we are allowing her other parent to claim her even thought we have had more time with her. Thank you for your response and for reporting this to TT as a glitch.

[rjs]

---

@Dust0000 wrote:

Thank you, I can confirm that this has allowed me to go through and answer the question that we are allowing her other parent to claim her even thought we have had more time with her. Thank you for your response and for reporting this to TT as a glitch.

---

@Dust0000  Did you go through the EIC interview? Does it allow you to use the child for EIC? I don't think it will. It gives the appearance of working when you enter the child, in that it says the child can be used for EIC or other credits, and lists the child as a nondependent. But when you get to the EIC interview, it does not recognize the child as a qualifying child for EIC.

[Calyps0]

Yep, I can confirm that taking the alternative approach  (" i do not have a custody agreement " ) removes the child completely from EIC and Dependent care options.  It's basically like the child doesn't exist so I don't think this is a work around.  Will have to wait for an update on it.  Is there any where to track the fix for this?  I'm also experiencing this issue.

Thanks, Ryan

[Dust0000]

Thank you for the updated and more thorough look into this. No it does not have her qualified. On the EIC section it says she “does not qualify because the answers you provided to earlier questions that indicated she isn’t eligible for EIC” even though she should. 
We have 2 other dependents and 2 foster children as well qualifying us for the maximum “more than two qualifying children” level. So it doesn’t affect us at this point but may have issues for others.

[Hal_Al]

TT is aware of the problem and working on it

[saquinosanchez]

I have the same situation as others have posted. I selected the "I don't have a custody agreement" option, but when continuing I'm asked if a relative lived in my home to support my daughter. I don't get the question that her other parent is claiming her this year. When will this be fixed?

[DianeW777]

As I go through the questions for the dependent, it appears that the questions are there. If you have a child who lives with you, but have chosen to waive that dependent to the noncustodial parent with Form 8332, then you do have an agreement.

If you are the noncustodial parent who lists zero or less that seven months and the custodial parent is allowing you to take the dependent for Child Tax Credit (CTC), you have in possession a Form 8332 to claim the child signed by the custodial parent, then you do have an agreement.  Either way provides the correct results.  The noncustodial parent is required to have the signed Form 8332 before filing, then send with Form 8458 after e-file acceptance.

See the images attached. Please update if you have more questions. 

[rjs]

@DianeW777  It looks like the bug might have been fixed by today's update (Jan. 28, 2021).

@Dust0000 @Calyps0 @saquinosanchez  Please try it again and see if it works now.

[saquinosanchez]

Yes, the option is now available. This is what I did.

1. Select daughter

2. Said she lived with me the full year

3. Daughter didn't contribute

4. Selected option that the other parent will claim her this year.

Thank you!