I live in Canada and had a son in 2019. We do not have a SSN, but turbotax requires this to complete our return. How can we overide this? We do not need child tax credit.

[US family in Canada]

As mentioned above, my wife and I are US citizens, living in Canada. We have not yet been able to get him a SSN and it is now going to be difficult to get one for a while due to the border being closed (Covid 19). When trying to complete our tax return, Turbotax specifically says that we need to enter our child's SSN. This is a problem since we don't have one and are not sure when we will be able to get one. Can Turbotax manually override this and leave it blank? We do not need the child tax benefit this year, so it isn't an issue, I just want to be able to complete filing. What can we do? Can you legally file without mentioning your child was born? Will this cause issues next year when we enter a child that was born in a different year? Thank you for the help.

[DoninGA]

You cannot file a tax return with a dependent if they do not have a US Social Security number or an ITIN issued by the IRS.

You can request an extension to file or you can file now and then when the SS number arrives file an amended tax return.

Extension for filing - https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/extensions/help/how-do-i-file-an-extension/01/27613

[US family in Canada]

@DoninGA 

Thank you for the help. Unfortunately we still haven't been able to visit the US and will file in October without our child (or SSN) and hope to amend later.

[Opus 17]

Unfortunately, you won’t get any benefits for amending a tax return to add the child Later in your situation. You can only claim a dependent if they have an SSN before the filing deadline of a timely filed return. (A timely filed return means a return that was filed before the July 15 deadline, or was filed before the September 15 deadline if you were out of the country and use the two month automatic extension, or was filed by October 15 if you had previously gotten the October extension approved in the usual way.)

Can you obtain the Social Security number by visiting a US consulate or embassy?

[US family in Canada]

@Opus 17  Thank you. I tried that, but the SSA won't let me apply through the consulate.

To be sure I qualify for the $1400 refundable tax credit (child). Will Turbotax correctly show a refundable credit on my summary? I would like to see a summary stating the return (using a placeholder SIN for my child), to ensure that FedEx'ing our documents is worth the effort.

[Opus 17]

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@US family in Canada wrote:

@Opus 17  Thank you. I tried that, but the SSA won't let me apply through the consulate.

To be sure I qualify for the $1400 refundable tax credit (child). Will Turbotax correctly show a refundable credit on my summary? I would like to see a summary stating the return (using a placeholder SIN for my child), to ensure that FedEx'ing our documents is worth the effort.

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Answered at your other discussion thread.