EIC or Dependent Care Credit Only

[Ocala]

Son is 22 and wants to file and claim himself on his own return, he is on ours (married parents joint filing) not as a dependent as he is not eligible, but it says EIC or Dependent Care Credit Only once I punch in info.  Does this seem correct?  Can he file his own taxes now and claim himself for stimulus credit, however, we can still get him on our EIC credit (he won't get this on his own filing).

[Ocala]

BTW he is a college student for 2020 

[macuser_22]

Why is he not eligible to be your dependent?

What test below does he fail?

You do not HAVE to claim a dependent, but if you CAN then the child cannot claim himself and must indicate on hid tax return that he CAN be claimed, even if he was not claimed.

---Tests To Be a Qualifying Child---
(Must pass ALL of these tests)

NOTE: If a child passes all of these tests he must say “yes” on his/her own tax return (if he/she files one) that another taxpayer CAN claim him/her as a dependent even if they DO NOT claim him/her)

1. The child must be your son, daughter, stepchild, foster child, brother, sister, half brother, half sister, stepbrother,stepsister, or a descendant of any of them.

2. The child must be (a) under age 19 at the end of 2020, (b) under age 24 at the end of 2020 and a full-time student* for any part of 5 months of 2020, or (c) any age if permanently and totally disabled and must be younger than you (or your spouse if filing jointly).

3. The child must have lived with you for more than half of the year (There are exceptions for temporary absences such as school, illness, business, vacation, military service).

4. The child must not have provided more than half of his or her own support for the year.
See Worksheet 3-1. Worksheet for Determining Support
https://www.irs.gov/publications/p17#en_US_2020_publink1000171012

5. If the child meets the rules to be a qualifying child of more than one person, you must be the person entitled to claim the child as a qualifying child.

6. The child is not filing a joint return.

7. The child must be a U.S. citizen, U.S. resident alien, U.S. national, or a resident of Canada or Mexico

*A full-time student is a student who is enrolled for the number of hours or courses the school considers to be full-time attendance during some part of each of any 5 calendar months of the year.

See IRS Publication 17 for more information.

https://www.irs.gov/publications/p17

[Kailef]

This is my question too.

My son, Joey, is 42 and totally disabled. He's been disabled since she was born. He's lived with me the whole year so no one else can claim him.

He's filing taxes and claiming himself to get his stimulus. I answered the questions during the My Info part and it shows the same thing that it's EIC/Dependent Care Only. He doesn't qualify as a dependent because he paid at least half or more than half of his support.

So I won't get to claim him as a dependent because he's claiming himself.

The EIC I can still get though right? He's disabled and lived with me the whole year.

So even though he doesn't qualify as a dependent, I can still claim him for the EIC only right?

[macuser_22]

---

@Kailef wrote:

The EIC I can still get though right? He's disabled and lived with me the whole year.

So even though he doesn't qualify as a dependent, I can still claim him for the EIC only right?

---

Correct, if he meets the IRS test for disabled and the only reason you cannot claim is because he supports himself.    The question is, how can he support himself if to meed\t the disabled test, he is unable to engage in Substantial gainful activity?   If the money comes from SSDI then that would pass the test.

The IRS defines disabled this way:

Permanent and total disability.

You have a permanent and total disability if you can't engage in any substantial gainful activity because of your physical or mental condition. A qualified physician must certify that the condition has lasted or can be expected to last continuously for 12 months or more, or that the condition can be expected to result in death.
Substantial gainful activity.

Substantial gainful activity is the performance of significant duties over a reasonable period of time while working for pay or profit, or in work generally done for pay or profit. Full-time work (or part-time work done at your employer's convenience) in a competitive work situation for at least the minimum wage conclusively shows that you are able to engage in substantial gainful activity.

Claiming disabled has no tax benefit unless child care was necessary so that you could work that normally cuts off after age 12, but is allowed if the care is necessary for an older disabled child.

It also allows claiming a Qualified Child as a dependent beyond the age of 18 and would do nothing for a younger child.

It also allows claiming the EIC if the child does not meed the dependent test if the only reason is the child's income pays more then half of the child's own support.

[Ocala]

Thanks so much for your response.

As per TT:  

Even though Jack lived with you for more than six months in 2020, he paid more than half of his living expenses, which means he can't be your dependent.

But the good news is he could help you get other tax savings.  

EIC or Dependent Care Credit Only

He supported himself through working and scholarship/grant money, but he lived under our roof.  

[macuser_22]

---

@Ocala wrote:

Thanks so much for your response.

As per TT:  

Even though Jack lived with you for more than six months in 2020, he paid more than half of his living expenses, which means he can't be your dependent.

But the good news is he could help you get other tax savings.  

EIC or Dependent Care Credit Only

He supported himself through working and scholarship/grant money, but he lived under our roof.  

---

That is correct.     The EIC requirements do not have a support test like the dependent requirements.  And no age test if disabled.

The only questionable thing is you said "through working" so does he actually meet the "disabled test" ?

Full-time work (or part-time work done at your employer's convenience) in a competitive work situation for at least the minimum wage conclusively shows that you are able to engage in substantial gainful activity. 

[Ocala]

I think you may have me confused with the other poster, I am the original poster, my son is a student and worked part-time.  He is not disabled.

[MaryM428]

Your son is not eligible for the stimulus because he can be claimed as a dependent by someone else.  He can file a return to get back any taxes that he may have coming if he was employed during 2020.

On his tax return, your son needs to check the box that someone else can claim his as a dependent.  If he has not income to report, he does not need to file a return.

@ Ocala

[macuser_22]

---

@Ocala wrote:

I think you may have me confused with the other poster, I am the original poster, my son is a student and worked part-time.  He is not disabled.

---

That I did - my comment was directed to the other poster with the disabled dependent.

[Hal_Al]

@Ocala  @Kailef Yes, there is a little known provision in the rules. If the child meets all the qualifying child (QC) rules, except the self support test, he is still a qualifying child for EIC, even though he is not a QC for being a dependent.  So, TurboTax is doing it correctly. 

 @macuser_22  said the same thing earlier ("It also allows claiming the EIC if the child does not meet the dependent test if the only reason is the child's income pays more then half of the child's own support") and ("The EIC requirements do not have a support test like the dependent requirements.  And no age test if disabled").

It wasn't clear that you had picked up on that.

[Kailef]

Okay so Joey started to fill his out and yes, he is totally disabled. He remains under the SGA because his medical conditions are too severe that he can't work full time or make enough that is above the SGA limit. He does draw SSDI even though he works part time.

When he fills out his forms and everything, it shows he gets the EIC credit because he's claiming himself. Does that automatically rule me out from claiming the EIC?

That's where I was confused. I can't claim him as a dependent because he's claiming himself and it shows he gets a tax break of $118 with EIC but doesn't that rule me out from claiming the EIC?

[macuser_22]

---

@Kailef wrote:

Okay so Joey started to fill his out and yes, he is totally disabled. He remains under the SGA because his medical conditions are too severe that he can't work full time or make enough that is above the SGA limit. He does draw SSDI even though he works part time.

When he fills out his forms and everything, it shows he gets the EIC credit because he's claiming himself. Does that automatically rule me out from claiming the EIC?

That's where I was confused. I can't claim him as a dependent because he's claiming himself and it shows he gets a tax break of $118 with EIC but doesn't that rule me out from claiming the EIC?

---

Incorrect answer deleted.

[Kailef]

I guess I'm confused by it all.

I wasn't going to claim him as a dependent because he does support himself. He made about $14,000 from work plus his SSDI. So how could someone be able to get the non-dependent EIC on their disabled adult child that lives with them if that disabled adult child is supporting himself?

[macuser_22]

Incorrect answer deleted.