I believe it changed my tax return to claim my son even though it is agreed that my boyfriend claims him. His keeps getting denied. What can I do?

[macuser_22]

Is he the father?
Do you live together?

[shelbyjoy91]

Yes to both

[DDollar · Accepted solution]

If you claimed your son on your tax return and now someone else is trying to claim him, their tax return will be rejected.  You won't be able to fix your return in time for him to e-file.  He can still claim your son, but he will have to print and mail his return.

[shelbyjoy91]

But I clearly hit that the father is claiming him and it said nothing in my overview before I summited about claiming him

[DDollar]

Sometimes all it takes is to have the dependent's information entered in your return to cause the IRS to reject someone else's return.

[macuser_22]

If you both live with the child, you can agree who claims the child and all the benefits.   The child can only be on one return and not on the other at all.  The benefits cannot be split.

Per the IRS: in order for parents to split the benefits the parents must have lived apart at all times during the last 6 months of the year, whether or not they are or were married.
<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://www.irs.gov/publications/p501#en_US_2018_publink1000220904">https://www.irs.gov/publications...>

The dependent interview is confusing since it asks about custody without really explaining what that means.   That can lead you to answer the questions in a manner that gives credits to both parents when they both live with the child which is not allowed.   The child can only be on one parents tax return and not on the other at all.

*Only* divorced or separated parents that have lived apart for the last 6 months of the year can have a *custody* agreement.   The parent that physically lived with the child is the custodial parent and the parent that did not live with the child the non-custodial parent.   Under those circumstances the custodial parent can release the child's exempt to the non-custodial parent who did not live with the child with a 8332 form (which is a custody agreement).  

When *both* parents live with the child, no such custody agreement can exist since both parents have equal custody and there is no non-custodial parent.   The dependent and all the benefits can only be claimed by one parent.

[shelbyjoy91]

And theres no way for me to fix this?

[macuser_22]

More than likely the child is listed on your return as "non-dependent, EIC and Dependent Care Only".

Since you already filed, the only way to fix it is to amend and either you claim the child and all the benefits and your BF files without the child,  or you totally remove the child and your BF claims the child and paper files.  If he claims the child he will not be able to e-file this year since the child's SSN has been used in the IRS e-file system.

To amend:
-- You should *wait* until your return has been processed and you receive your refund or conformation that any tax due has been paid. (If you file an amended return while you first return is being processed it can cause extended delays for both returns if two returns are in the system at the same time). In addition, if the IRS makes any change on your original return, you might end up having to amend the amendment – a sticky process that can take a year or more).

-- Then you can start the amend process.

-- Amended returns can only be mailed - allow 8-12 weeks - can take up to 16 weeks (4 months) for processing.

See this TurboTax FAQ for help with amending:

<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1894381-how-to-amend-change-or-correct-a-return-you-already-filed"...>

You can check the status of your amended return here but allow 3 weeks after filing for it to show up:
<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://www.irs.gov/filing/wheres-my-amended-return">https://www.irs.gov/filing/wheres-my-amended-re...>