No unmarried parents can't split the benefits for a child. One parent gets all, the other parent gets nothing.
It is a decision that the two
of you decide together assuming you each meet the qualifications. Sometimes a
child meets the rules to be a qualifying child of more than one person. If the
child is the qualifying child of more than one person, only one person can
claim the child as a qualifying child for all of the following tax benefits:
- EITC,
- Dependency
exemption for the child,
- Child tax
credit,
- Head of
household filing status,
- Credit
for the child and dependent care expenses, and
- Exclusion for
dependent care benefits.
The other person(s) cannot take
any of the six tax benefits listed above unless he or she has a different
qualifying child. If they cannot agree who will claim the child as a qualifying
child, and more than one person actually claims tax benefits using the same
child, the tie-breaker rules (explained below) apply. If the other person
is a spouse and they file a joint return, this rule does not apply
