EITC and Tax Credit

[CaliChel]

I file as Head of Household. I have 3 kids. I am custodial parent of all 3.  Two older kids are claimed by their other parent each year by way of form 8332.  I indicated this on my taxes and TT still gave me EITC using one of my older kids as a dependent.  The other parent is now taking me to court to try to have me amend my taxes and not claim the EITC as he was unable to file his taxes and claim the boys as his dependents for Tax Credit (he doesn't qualify for EITC) bc their SSN were already used on my taxes.  

Is one parent allowed to claim the TC and one the EITC? 

If not, why did TT allow this to happen when I was completing my taxes- when they knew that the kids were being claimed as dependents by the other parent. 

[Bsch4477]

You, as the custodial parent are entitled to the EIC for all the children and can file a Headof Household as well as claim any child care credit that you are eligible for.  The non custodial parent cannot claim any of those benefits. That parent can only claim child tax credit and only if the custodial parent gives them that right via form 8332 as you have done. 

[xmasbaby0]

One of you may have answered some questions incorrectly when your prepared your returns.  You say there are "older" kids----if a child is older than 16 no one gets the child tax credit for the child.  Instead you get the $500 credit for other dependents.

CREDIT FOR OTHER DEPENDENTS

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/4499708-what-is-the-500-credit-for-other-dependents-family-tax-cre...

Are you the custodial parent?  Do you have an agreement with the other parent to allow the other parent to claim them--due to divorce or that you live apart and share custody?  Did one of you sign a Form 8332?

If there is a signed 8332 then the custodial parent retains the right to file as Head of Household, get earned income credit and the childcare credit.  The non-custodial parent gets the child tax credit for children under the age of 17 or the credit for other dependents for children over the age of 16.

As far as the IRS is concerned, the custodial parent is the one with whom the child spent the most nights during the tax year--at least 183 nights.

[rjs]

As others have explained, the custodial parent can use the child for the EITC even if the noncustodial parent is claiming the child as a dependent and claiming the child tax credit. So TurboTax was correct to allow you to use the child for the EITC. That cannot be what prevented the other parent from claiming the child as a dependent.

It's not clear what the problem is. We cannot see your tax return. It sounds like you might have accidentally claimed one of the older children as a dependent. Look at the list of dependents on the first page of the Form 1040 that you filed. A child who was supposed to be claimed by the other parent should not be listed there, even if you used that child for the EITC. Look at the actual Form 1040, not a screen in TurboTax.

[Hal_Al]

Q. Is one parent allowed to claim the TC (Child tax credit or credit for other dependents) and one the EITC? 

A. Yes.  That's exactly how it works. 

 There is a special rule in the case of divorced & separated (including never married) parents. When the non-custodial parent is claiming the child as a dependent/exemption/child tax credit; the custodial parent is still allowed to claim the same child for Earned Income Credit, Head of Household filing status, and day care credit. This "splitting of the child" is not available to parents who lived together at any time during the last 6 months of the year; then only one of you can claim the child for any tax reasons. The tax benefits may not be split in any other manner.

Note in particular that the non-custodial parent can never claim the Earned Income Credit, Head of Household filing status or the day care credit, based on that child, even when the custodial parent has released the dependency to him.

Ref: https://www.irs.gov/publications/p17#en_US_2017_publink1000170897

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