In 2020 Turbo Tax allowed me to choose 2020 Earned income for EITC and then allowed me to use 2019 Earned income for ACTC. IRS giving me a very large refund. IRS reversed these earned incomes and gave me the smallest refund possible. I was going to try and amend my 2020 return to hopefully fix this problem. However, in the 1040X instructions 2020 it said 2019 or 2020 Earned Income choice must be the same for both credits. That would make both Turbo Tax, Drake software and IRS calculating the credit wrong. Can you tell me which one is right and how I can fix this problem? Thank you
For both credits the requirement to use 2019 Earned Income rather than 2020 Earned Income was that the income for 2019 was more than 2020, therefore it would be logical that the income for the same year would be used for both credits.
“You may elect to use your 2019 earned income to figure your EIC if your 2019 earned income is more than your 2020 earned income. For details, see Pub. 596.”
“You may elect to use your 2019 earned income to figure your additional child tax credit if your 2019 earned income is more than your 2020 earned income. For details, see the Instructions for Schedule 8812.”