If I am unmarried, living with my child's mother for the whole year the child was born I am directed to select "no" and choose how long, do we both choose the whole year?

[jaedongillespie13]

the tip says "what if [child] lived with both parents, but we are not filing jointly" the tip continues to say if the parents are unmarried but still lived together the whole year to select"no" and choose how long the child lived with me. would I choose the whole year and when her mother files her taxes she would also choose the whole year? I am the one claiming her.

[xmasbaby0]

If you are a non-married couple who live together then only one of you can claim the child(ren) and the one not claiming the child does not enter anything at all on their tax return about the child. 

[Hal_Al · Accepted solution]

I agree with @xmasbaby0 , the mother should not enter the child, in Turbotax (TT), at all. 

If you and the other parent live together, either one of you (but not both) may claim the child. You may decide between you which one will claim the child. Only if you can’t agree, do the IRS tie breaker rules apply, to see who has first choice. It may be worthwhile to prepare trial returns, both ways,  to see which way the family comes out best. This tool may be useful: https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tools/calculators/taxcaster/?s=1.

A common error is when unmarried parents live together,  If you and the other parent live together, only one of you can claim the child for any tax benefit. The TurboTax interview is confusing (it's designed for divorced parents, who are allowed to split the child). The second parent should not enter the child, at all.

[Opus 17 · Accepted solution]

Definitely, only one parent should list the child, answer "whole year", and say no one else supports the child and there is no custody agreement.  The other parent ignores the child completely.

However, whether the mother or father should claim the child depends on other facts, like income and eligibility for child tax credits.  Usually, the parent who pays more than half the expenses should claim the child because they can also claim head of household.  The other parent files as single with no dependent.  However, the only way to know for sure which way leads to a bigger refund is to test both parents.)