For EITC, Turbotax is saying I have one qualifying child. But I actually have 7.

[demuretwilight]

When I finish up the EITC section, it says I get the EITC and lists an amount of $479. Then underneath Intuit Assist explains that I got this amount because I am married filing jointly, have 1 qualifying child, and have a adjusted gross income of $47,546. $479 would be right according to the EIC tax credit tables in the instructions for form 1040. But I actually have 7 children who all meet the qualifications for EIC. I know EITC only goes up to 3 qualifying children, but why is it saying I have only 1 qualifying child?

[Vanessa A]

Are they all qualifying children for the EITC?  Did you enter ALL Of their information including SSN's?  If all of your children are Qualifying Children for the EITC, then go back and double check you answers to be sure all of their information is correct. 

[demuretwilight · Accepted solution]

Thanks for your suggestions!

I figured this out after talking on the phone to a specialist from Turbotax for 40 minutes. The problem was that I and my family had been out of the country for almost half the year. On each of the children I put that they had been with me in the USA for 6 months, since we spent July 1 through Dec 31 in the USA. Our new baby who was born in September 2023 was marked as being with us for 12 months in the USA since he was just born, which was why we had one qualifying child.

What it needed us to do was for each other child to put that they had been with me in the USA for 7 months. What you can't see in Turbotax when you are filling it out is a message on the 1040 itself which says: 'Number of months child lived with you in the United States during 2023--If the child lived with you for more than half of 2023 but less than 7 months, enter “7.”' In my case, they were with me exactly 6 months in the USA (July 1 through Dec 31) but more than half the year (in 2023 July 1 through Dec 31 is 183 days, and the first 6 months is 182 days).

So changing it to 7 months is the right thing to do, and when I did this Turbotax said I had 3 qualifying children as expected and the credit came through as expected.