Dependent vs non dependent

[Jennbriggs4893]

I claimed my son as a dependent, but I also claimed the daycare expense with an EIC credit with my daughter as a non dependent. Her mom claimed our daughter but claimed our sons daycare expenses. She filed her taxes first and they got accepted. I filed mine after and mine got rejected. We both live in the same house. Any thoughts?

[Hal_Al]

You are not allowed to do that.  This is a  common error is when unmarried parents live together,  If you and the other parent live together, only one of you can claim the child for any tax benefit. The interview is confusing (it's designed for divorced parents, who are allowed to split the child benefits). The second parent should not enter the child, at all.

The mother will have to file an amended return (after she receives the refund from the first filing). She will unclaim the son's day care.

You can go ahead and file your return, but you will have to mail it in.

____________________________________________________________________________

  If you and the other parent live together, either one of you (but not both) may claim the child. You may decide between you which one will claim the child. Only if you can’t agree, do the IRS tie breaker rules apply, to see who has first choice. It may be worthwhile to prepare trial returns, both ways,  to see which way the family comes out best. This tool may be useful: https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tools/calculators/taxcaster/?s=1.

[Brich22390]

I stated that i was not claiming my daughter this year that there was an agreement that my spouse was going to claiming her it said that i didn't qualify to claim her which is what the plan was then after hitting continue asked for our daughters ssn and gave me a non dependent eic and now my spouse is trying to file and claim our daughter but keeps getting rejected why would it have asked me to enter our daughters ssn if i said i wasn't trying to claim her and was going to interfere with my spouse from claiming her ot wouldn't allow me skip past entering ssn either

[ColeenD3]

Divorced and separated parents who live apart have a special set of rules. They can actually split benefits for a child. If you are the custodial parent, then you can claim Head of Household, EIC and Child Care. Even if you release the claim of exemption to him and allow him to claim the dependency and Child Tax Credit, he does not qualify for the other status and credits.

[Hal_Al]

"Why" has been explained. The interview is for divorced and separated parents. When the custodial parent allows the non custodial parent to claim the child, the custodial parent stills get to claim EIC .  You essentially told TT that you are the custodial parent.

You made a mistake. The only solution is for your gf to mail in a paper return. She can still claim full benefits.

Which is it, spouse or girl friend? There are even more different rules if this is a case of married people filing separate returns. Then nobody is allowed EIC!

[Brich22390]

There was no sepreation or divorce we were never married just bf and gf with a child i never tried to add a dependent it simply asked have you had a child i said yes it tried to then add the child as a dependent and i answered all questions truthfully then when it came to the question about is the other parent going to claim this child i said yes it said that i didn't qualify to add as a dependent and that should have been it but it said in the fine print above the continue and back buttons that i could receive savings i hit continue to keep going with filling and it then asked for our childs ssn which i wasn't able to skip past so after entering it said i will receive a non dependent eic and now my gf is trying to file hers and claim our child as planned but it is rejected every time

[macuser_22]

---

@Brich22390 wrote:

... it simply asked have you had a child i said yes it tried to then add the child as a dependent and i answered all questions truthfully ...

---

@Brich22390  Yes, the question is misleading.  It should say "Do you have a child that you can *claim*" which is what it means, but they try to keep it simple.   And you cannot answer yes to the custody agreement if you are not separated since custody is moot when you both live with the child and both have custody.

Do you both live with the child?

If you both live with the child, you can agree who claims the child and all the benefits. The child can only be on one return and not on the other at all. The benefits cannot be split.

Per the IRS: in order for parents to split the benefits the parents must have lived apart at all times during the last 6 months of the year, whether or not they are or were married.
https://www.irs.gov/publications/p501#en_US_2018_publink1000220904

The dependent interview is confusing since it asks about custody without really explaining what that means. That can lead you to answer the questions in a manner that gives credits to both parents when they both live with the child which is not allowed. The child can only be on one parents tax return and not on the other at all.

*Only* divorced or separated parents that have lived apart for the last 6 months of the year can have a *custody* agreement. The parent that physically lived with the child is the custodial parent and the parent that did not live with the child the non-custodial parent. Under those circumstances the custodial parent can release the child's exempt to the non-custodial parent who did not live with the child with a 8332 form (which is a custody agreement).

When *both* parents live with the child, no such custody agreement can exist since both parents have equal custody and there is no non-custodial parent. The dependent and all the benefits can only be claimed by one parent.

[Raven135]

This is exactly what I'm dealing with now. Turbo tax should have flagged you to take off the dependant's SS. What you will have to do is mail in the rejected return and amend the return that should have not included any children's info.

I'm also mailing a form 8332 which should have a 8453 with my bf's return so they'll see he should have been the one to claim our daughter. Best case, they'll reject the return that should have never taken any credits for the child. Worse case, they reject the mailed return that should have included the child.

In my case, I filed my return with my daughters SS and my bf's was rejected. I'm mailing his but if it's still rejected, I will have to file an extension on his just in case we can't get everything processed in time. I'll be amending my return to take off my daughter and owe money back to the fed/state. I will then wait for the amended return to process. When the amended return is accepted, I can process his return with our daughters info. I hope everything goes smoothly for you. 

[macuser_22]

---

@Raven135 wrote:

I'm also mailing a form 8332 ...

 I'll be amending my return to take off my daughter and owe money back to the fed/state. I will then wait for the amended return to process. When the amended return is accepted, I can process his return with our daughters info. I hope everything goes smoothly for you. 

---

As I posted above - if you both live with the child a 8332 form does not apply at all.  That form is only for parents that have been separated for at least the last 6 months of 2019 and only one parent lived with the child.   A 8332 form will only complicate things and clause long delays because it does not apply to this situation.

Amended returns are not "accepted" - they take up to 4 months to process and that does NOT allow an e-fileing using the same SSN any time this year.  The IRS locks out a SSN totally for the year for e-filing once it has been used to prevent fraud.   Another tax return  claiming the same child can ONLY be mail filed.