Can I still get a federal refund for my 4 qualifying dependents even if I had no income other than child support in 2022?

[kjblue6]

My ex husband and I have an agreement that I claim all 4 of our children.

[DoninGA]

For tax year 2022, if you do not have any type of income then you are not eligible for any tax credit which is dependent on having earned income, including the Child Tax Credit.

There is no need for you to file a tax return with no income, with or without having a dependent.

Child support is not reported on a tax return.

[kjblue6]

I was also a full-time Nurse Practitioner student and lived off loans. Does that qualify as income? 

[xmasbaby0]

Loans are not earned income, and will not make you eligible for any child-related credits.  Sorry.

The rules for getting the child tax credit on a 2021 tax return and now on a 2022 return are very different.  For 2021 you could get $3600 for a child under 6 or $3000 for a child between 6 and 17 even if you had no income/did not work.   That is NOT the way it will work for your 2022 tax return.  The “old” rules are back.   The maximum amount of the child tax credit is now $2000; the refundable “additional child tax credit” amount is $1500.   In order to get that credit, you have to have income from working.  The credit is calculated based on the amount you earned above $2500 multiplied by 15%, up to the full $1500.  If your child is older than 16 at the end of 2022, you do not get the CTC.  But you may still get the non-refundable $500 credit for other dependents instead.

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1900923-what-is-the-child-tax-credit

https://www.irs.gov/help/ita/does-my-childdependent-qualify-for-the-child-tax-credit-or-the-credit-f...

And for the Earned Income Credit—-the rules are back to the “old” rules—

Those under 25 and over 65 without children are not eligible as they were uniquely in 2021.   And you cannot use your income from any earlier tax year to get the EIC for a 2022 return.  There is no “lookback” for 2022.  EIC for 2022 will be based on the income you earned by working in 2022.

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1899157-what-are-the-qualifications-for-the-earned-income-credit-e...

https://www.irs.gov/credits-deductions/individuals/earned-income-tax-credit/use-the-eitc-assistant

AND….If you have children but had no income, it raises the question of how you and the children were supported.  There may be another tax-paying adult who can claim you and/or the children as dependents. 

[Opus 17]

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@kjblue6 wrote:

I was also a full-time Nurse Practitioner student and lived off loans. Does that qualify as income? 

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To benefit from the $2000 per child tax credit, you must have taxable income.  To get a refundable credit (a refund that does more than zero out your tax) you must have earned income from working (a W-2 job that withholds social security and medicare tax, or self-employment on schedule C).

If you have no taxable income and no earned income, you won't get anything for claiming your children.  If you were to agree to let the other parent claim the children even though it is not "their year", they might get a cash benefit depending on their other tax situations, and they could give some of that money to you if you both agreed.  

Note that you can't "share" the child dependents with any other person unless they are your parent or your older sibling and they lived in the same home with you and the children for more than half the year.  You can only share them with your ex.