EIC but not claim child

[Hal_Al]

If done correctly, both parties can e-file.  But the usual reason for the 2nd party's e-file being rejected is that one or both of you have claimed something you're not allowed. 

 There is a special rule in the case of divorced & separated (including never married) parents. When the non-custodial parent is claiming the child as a dependent/child tax credit; the custodial parent is still allowed to claim the same child for Earned Income Credit, Head of Household filing status, and day care credit. This "splitting of the child" is not available to parents who lived together at any time during the last 6 months of the year; then only one of you can claim the child for any tax benefit. 

[Magestic Comb]

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When unmarried parents live together, the 2nd parent should not enter the child, at all, on her tax return or  in TTax.

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This needs to be made more clear to the user in the instructions. Turbo Tax asking the unmarried user if they've had a child within the past year, but secretly requiring them to select 'No', makes them feel like they are lying, which isn't a good business strategy and a dangerous game to play with the IRS.

The same thing happened to me saying that I qualified for a non-dependent EIC, which I thought meant I qualified for an EIC based on my wages last year after having to quit my job to stay at home full time with the child. At which point, my taxes were rejected claiming I was trying to claim my child, which I was not. Answering all of the questions truthfully that Turbo Tax asks regarding having a child, puts the user in a position where they accidentally claim the child they are trying not to claim.

We are an unmarried couple living together full time and have a verbal agreement as to who claims the child on their taxes. Thankfully, he did his taxes before me so he was able to get the child tax credits without issue. I am just disappointed because now I'm no longer getting back enough projected money to put into an emergency fund and start a college savings plan. At least I'll have enough money coming back to buy the child new clothes that fit when clothing becomes considered essential again.

[Wilkinsongregory]

its continuing go be rejected because of this Eic. not sure what else to do. I need to file 2018

[JotikaT2]

If you are still getting rejected for the EIC, you can mail your return in instead.  

You will find this option in the File section of the program.  See the following link for more instructions.

Switch from E-file to mail

[damionscar]

I am going through the same exact thing. This information helped ALOT, my boyfriend who i live with ended up getting the non dependent EIC so when I went to file, I got rejected.  So my question is, can i send his amended return and my tax return at the same time? Or do i have to send his first and wait? I am close to the deadline and worried. 

[Hal_Al]

The deadline this year is July 15.

Q. Can I send  (by paper mail) his amended return and my tax return at the same time?

A. Yes. But don't mail them together.  You do not have to wait for his amended return to be processed.  He needs to amend to totally remove the child. 

It appears you understand this, but I'll repeat it for others reading this:  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.

[Kyliepower3691]

Send them at the same time, it won't make a difference to wait. the sooner the better! I'd send them together (or separate) in a Manila envelope and get tracking with the post office.  I'd even consider paying for a signature upon delivery because ours got lost in the mail the first time! So we paid the 2nd time to track with signature.

[Laurenashleyh]

@damionscar 
What we were told when this happened was file yours through mail with your dependent and then you have till October to amend his and send what they over payed him. 

[Hal_Al]

The Jul 15 date is for you to file.  But since you will be getting a refund, it's not critical that  you meet that deadline.  There is no penalty for filing late if you do not owe.

There is no October deadline for filing a amended return (the Oct 15 date is for people who filed an extension, not an amendment; two different things).  Technically he has three years (from when he filed) to file an amended return.  But since he owes, interest and possibly penalties will mount up.  So, he should file and pay as soon as possible. 

[starangelmonkey]

So my question is should my child’s father who is claiming our children paper file I already received my refund back I did not claim any of the children but they are in my taxes but I did not get any credit for them at all

[MarilynG1]

@starangelmonkey Your child's father should be able to Efile claiming your children, if you did not claim them on your return.  If he return is rejected, however, he can paper file.

If you are the custodial parent, you are allowed to claim them for the Earned Income Credit, and file as Head of Household, even though their father claims them as a Dependent and for the Child Tax Credit.

Click this link for more info on Splitting Child Credits. 

[Kyliepower3691]

So the whole issue that is tricky with turbo tax is that question " do you have children" do they live with you 12mos, do you support them, yes and so on so on...

Well if you're not claiming them as dependents and you and the childs father live together then you're supposed to say no to that question. I know its so confusing! He can file paper if the kids arent listed as a dependent on your taxes for EIC.  They may show the childs name as a dependent, but not for the EIC (since you didnt get the dependent eic credit anyways) It should say "0" for claimed dependents. If he files paper he may still get that dependent child tax & eic credit.  Just be sure to get that sorted next yr. Only the parent claiming the children should have them listed as dependents. I'm only saying because ive been through it! If he files on turbo it'll get rejected and he may get audited 

[KrisD15]

There is a link on the "Do you have an agreement with the child's other parent about who can claim them" screen that explains how claiming children as dependents work, especially for unmarried parents that live together. The dependent is allowed by the agreement, or by the person with the highest income. 

If you answer the TurboTax interview questions carefully and truthfully, the program will allocate the child's exemption to the proper parent. 

You can select that the child lived with you the entire year, but you would also select that the child lived equally with each parent. 

[starangelmonkey]

OK so what had happened is I had filed mine and as far as I was aware of I answered everything correctly I had said that I was not claiming the kids I filed single I did everything but supposedly on I believe it was the EIC it said 890So does that mean that I had gotten some thing even though I only got like $400 back and it clearly shows on his Amount wise that he was claiming them

[starangelmonkey]

I’m in the process of trying to amend it but TurboTax is trying to tell me that it’s not going to be ready until March 25 of this year one before it had said February 26 I’m just trying to figure out what to do if I’m going to have to pay any money in or what I got my return all ready I don’t know what’s what to do