Why isn't my child my dependant

[Audrey_L]

My child lived with me 10 month of the year and I provided more than half his support.  If I am honest and enter the 10 months in the software it tells me he is not my dependant and is not eligible for credits.  Why is this?  If I can't claim him who could?  He lived with my mother the other 2 months and she has no intention of trying to claim him.  

[NCperson]

something doesn't sound right......be careful of that question about whether the child provides more than half of his own support - it's worded "squirly" .... did you answer that question opposite of the way intended for a child? that question trips people up the way it's worded 

Also, run your scenario through the IRS dependent tool: 

https://www.irs.gov/help/ita/whom-may-i-claim-as-a-dependent

[macuser_22]

If you indicate in the interview that the child lived with you 7 to 12 months then you have met the requirement.  I suggest deleting the dependent totally and re-enter, reading the questions carefully.   Note that the support question does NOT ask if you supported the child, it asks if the child supported him/herself so the answer must be no.     Also, answer that you doe NOT have a custody agreement if that question comes up.

[DoninGA]

If the child is under the age of 19 and lived in your home for 10 months, all other things being correct you would be able to claim him as a dependent.  Make sure that you indicated that the child did NOT provide over one-half of his own support.  Also make sure that you indicted there was NOT another person in your household who also supported the child (other that your spouse if married).

If you answered all the questions correctly and the program still does not show the child as your dependent, delete them as a dependent and re-enter.

[Audrey_L]

Thanks All!   It appears there is an error in the program.  If I go straight into the form there are a number of fields in the dependent worksheet that didn't populate.  When I fill those in it calculates correctly, however if I then go back and run through the screen in step by step it gets stuck in a loop like it's in conflict.   I was able to exit out and get it to pass review just fine, I just need to avoid those screens right now until they fix their bug.  

[fanfare]

At this stage of the game, TurboTax is "preliminary".

[Carl]

There's one question that folks mis-read and mis-interpret all the time, and because of that they incorrectly select YES. The question is, did the *CHILD* provide more than half of *THEIR OWN SUPPORT" for the tax year. You have to answer that question NO. If you answer yes, then the child just flat out does not qualify as  your dependent.

Also keep in mind that it's still early, and the program is not anywhere near complete yet.

[dmertz]

Yes, 2020 TurboTax currently has a bug in this regard, apparently in step-by-step mode.  When you indicate that you have no custody agreement, TurboTax is defaulting on the internal form to indicating that the other parent will be claiming the child rather than asking you the questions needed to determine which parent will be claiming the child.

This bug was introduced about 6 weeks ago in update release R4.  As a workaround, you can indicate that you have a custody agreement with the other parent or you can make the correction in forms mode.