My child lived with me most of the year, but my ex husband and I have a court agreement that he claims him every odd year. Do I answer no to him living with me on here?

[Marypacheco95]

My Federal and State keep getting rejected because my son is listed on my taxes, even though I have him as a non dependent this year.  This has never been an issue in previous odd years, but for some reason it is this year.  He lived with me the majority of the year, but I am not claiming him per our agreement.  Do I need to mark "no" to the question of him living with me, even though I'm not claiming him?

[xmasbaby0]

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.

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.

[Marypacheco95]

For the majority of last year (2023) I was the custodial parent with his father having regular visitation.  However, when we divorced, part of our agreement is that he would claim him every other year.  I have the even years (2020, 2022, 2024) and he has the odd (2019, 2021, 2023).  I have always marked it as "yes" he is with me primarily through the year, but on the odd years I don't claim him as a dependent.  This hasn't been an issue before this year.  Now however, despite me not claiming him as a dependent, it seems to have an issue with me having him listed in any capacity.  So I don't know if I'm supposed to lie and say he didn't live with me the majority of the year, or if I'm missing something that allows it to be both. 

The IRS may view me as custodial for 2023, because of the amount of time my son lived with/stayed with me, but the order we have from court states that he claims him every odd year, so he will (and I believe already has) filed with him as his dependent this year. 

We did change custody in the second half of 2023 to joint, and going forward he will/has/is going to have him 50% of the time for 2024 and on, but that doesn't change how we have our filing.  I will still only claim him every other year.  I'm just not sure how to fix these rejected returns without fully removing him from my file or lying about the amount of time he lived with me, even if I am not claiming him this year.  

[AmyC]

Two possibilities:

1. Entry error: When you look at your personal information section, you should see the child listed as nondependent for EIC/dependent care only. If yours is different, go back through the interview and check your answers. You do qualify for those credits as the custodial parent. 

2. He claimed custody. Possibly your ex went ahead and claimed that the child lived with him. Then your return would reject and you would need to print and mail your return with a letter explaining you were the custodial parent for 2023

Here is a screenshot of my fake return for custody of the child but not claiming as a dependent