Cannot take Child and Other Dependent Tax Credit

[AlanGP]

When I try to take the Child and Other Dependent Tax Credit TurboTax Desktop tells me I am not entitled to the credit. I have taken this credit for years and not had a problem. I reviewed a lot of other users posts with the same issue and have not found a solution. My daughter is a disabled 35 year old who lives with me all year. She has only SSI income and I pay more than half her support.

I have already tried removing her as a dependent. Saving the form and then re-entering her information. When I enter the dependent details in My Personal Info it tells me that I qualify for a credit. But when I go to the Deductions and Credits and try to update the credit it pops up with a message that "It turns out you don't qualify for these credits".

I've tried everything I can think of and nothing works. Is this a BUG in the TurboTax Deluxe desktop version?

Thanks,

Alan

[xmasbaby0]

It sounds like you might be confusing two different credits.   If you can claim your daughter as a "qualifying relative" dependent then you can get the non-refundable $500 credit for other dependents.  When you mentioned "child" credit---did you confuse that with the child and dependent care credit---which is the one you get if you pay someone to take care of them so you can work?

To get the credit for other dependents:

Make sure you have entered your daughter as a dependent in My Info, and that you have entered her Social Security number.    Careful— do not say that your daughter's SSN is not valid for employment.   There is an oddly worded question that asks if the child paid over half their own support.  Say NO to that question.

Qualifying relative

• They don't have to be related to you (despite the name).
• They aren't claimed as a dependent by someone else.
• They're a U.S. citizen, resident alien, national, or a Canadian or Mexican resident.
• They aren’t filing a joint return with their spouse.
• They lived with you the entire year (exceptions apply).
• They made less than $5200 in 2025 (not counting Social Security)
• You provided more than half of their financial support.

  When you add someone as a dependent, we'll ask a series of questions to make sure you can claim them. There may be other tax benefits you can get when you claim a dependent.

  Related Information:

  • What does "financially support another person" mean?

    The credit for other dependents will show up on line 19 of your Form 1040.

    PREVIEW 1040

    https://ttlc.intuit.com/turbotax-support/en-us/help-article/tax-return/preview-turbotax-online-retur...

    Child Tax Credit line 19

    Credit for Other Dependents line 19

    Earned Income Credit line 27

    Additional Child Tax Credit line 28

[AlanGP]

Thanks @xmasbaby0 for the quick reply,

But it is the $500 credit that I am trying to take. TurboTax tells me that I qualify for a credit when I enter the dependent information but won't let me take the credit later in the deductions/credits entry section.

I have taken this credit for many years. The dependent information hasn't changed.

I still think this is a BUG in the Deluxe desktop version but I don't know how to contact someone at TT to get an answer.

Regards,

Alan.

[xmasbaby0]

When you enter your daughter as a dependent and answer the MY INFO questions correctly, the credit for other dependents should just be added automatically to line 19.   Try deleting her as a dependent and then re-enter her information.

[AlanGP]

I've tried deleting her and re-entering the data several times now. Nothing works. In the info section it says I qualify but in the Cre3dit section it says I don't. This has to be a bug.

Does anyone here know how to contact Intuit TurboTax Support directly?

[xmasbaby0]

Phone support is not provided with the Free Edition.  If you are using a paid version of the software or if you purchased PLUS you can get phone support when customer support is there.  Otherwise, post your question here and someone will try to help.

To call TurboTax customer support

https://ttlc.intuit.com/turbotax-support/en-us/help-article/account-management/contact-turbotax/L2y9...

[AlanGP · Accepted solution]

After calling TurboTax support and spending quite some time on the line we finally figured out what was going on. I had entered everything except one 1099-DIV from my stock brokerage that wasn't yet released. The result of this was that I had NO TAX LIABILITY yet. Hence no tax credit. Once I entered the 1099-DIV my tax liability shot up and the credit appeared. Cudos to the support girl that figured this out, but it really would have been better if the program told me WHY the credit wasn't allowed rather than just stating it wasn't. 

Problem solved.