Why can I only enter up to 3 children in the EIC section? I paid child support on 4 children, under 3 different support orders.

[DanielV01]

You probably do not qualify to claim Earned Income Credit.  Although you pay child support for the children, you are only allowed to claim Earned Income Credit if the children lived with you for more than 6 months.  Most people who pay child support only pay on children that live outside of the house.  What you might be able to claim, if the other parent(s) agree, by filling out and signing Form 8332, which must be forwarded to the IRS through Form 8453 after e-filing the tax return, is to claim the children as dependents, and then claiming the Child Tax Credit if they are under 17 years of age before January 1, 2020.  The Child Tax credit is a $2000 tax credit per eligible child.  If the Child Tax Credit reduces your taxable income down to $0, then up to $1400/child may be refunded as Additional Child Tax Credit.  The Child Tax Credit is not limited to the number of children claimed.  Earned Income Credit can be claimed on up to a maximum of 3 qualifying children, but the children must live with you in order to be able to claim this credit.  Paying child support does not entitle you to this credit.

For additional information, please see this website: EITC.  In TurboTax, while you may be able to list them as your dependents, you must do so by stating that the children live with their other parent(s).  This will allow TurboTax assist in generating Form 8332.  Without that form, you probably cannot claim the children.

[Anonymous]

if the children did not live with you in the US for more than 1/2 the year they do not qualify for purposes of the  EIC.  there are other qualifications that must be met for you to get the EIC and use the number of qualifying children to increase it.  for purposes of the EIC only a max of 3 qualifying children can be used.

you can still get a small EIC without qualifying children if your earned income/agi  is low enough  TT will figure EIC based on your entries.  do not claim the children if they don't qualify. if you do the IRS will likely catch it and you will be barred from taking the EIC for 2 years