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If she was entered on your return then you claimed her. Were both names listed in the Dependent section? How was your son only checked as Claimed? You mean on the right side checked for Child Tax Credit? Was she checked for Other Dependent?
If the IRS reduced your return it was probably for something else. How much did they reduce it?
Both were listed. Son was checked for child tax credit. Daughter had no checks
They reduced roughly $1200
Let's go back. Where did your children physically live more than half the nights of the year? That is the only parent who has the automatic right to claim a child as a dependent. Do you have a written agreement for the non-custodial parent to claim one or both children?
You said your ex was rejected AND the IRS reduced your return? Did you get a letter from the IRS? Why exactly did they reduce your refund (dependent problem, stimulus rebate, or something else)?
We have 50/50 custody. The divorce papers say each claim one child. We agree which child ahead of time. This year, my intentions were to claim my son.
I don’t have the latter on hand, but can confirm later. I believe it said something about stimulus..
@jonneal66 wrote:
We have 50/50 custody. The divorce papers say each claim one child. We agree which child ahead of time. This year, my intentions were to claim my son.
I don’t have the latter on hand, but can confirm later. I believe it said something about stimulus..
Where do the children physically live more than half the nights of the year? In a year with 365 nights, that would be 183 or more nights. It's not possible for custody to be exactly half unless both parents spent some nights together. The IRS does not recognize court custody orders, only where the child physically lived. The parent where the child does not physically live can't claim anything unless they include a signed release (not a copy of the custody order, a special form) from the custodial parent. I'll tell you more what you can and can't do when I know where the kids actually physically lived.
My son with me, my daughter with ex
I pretty sure that is my only questions when filling out the taxes were
did Jonathan stay with me more: Yes
did Savannah stay with me: No
then I believe it said son was eligible and daughter was not.
that was my only part…
@jonneal66 wrote:
My son with me, my daughter with ex
Yes, you need to remove your daughter. Under these circumstances, when you run through the dependent interview, if you answer that your daughter lived with you less than half the year (6 months or less), Turbotax would not include the child at all unless you indicated that you were claiming the child with a signed dependent release form. By listing the child, even though the child tax credit box is not checked, you are indicating the daughter lived with you, and that will conflict with your ex's tax return.
Because you have another child who did live with you, removing the child will not change your head of household status, if you claimed it. You can't claim the dependent care (day care) credit for a child who did not live in your home more than half the year, so if you did claim that it needs to come off. If you did not claim the child care credit, then you might not actually be able to file an amended return to remove the child, because you can't e-file an amended return if it doesn't change your tax owed.
At this point I would try to amend and see if it changes your tax more than the $1200 adjustment that already happened. If the amended return does not change your tax, you probably can't file it.
Your ex needs to file by mail, because even if you do amend, that fact won't clear the e-file database before the October 15 deadline. But you and your ex might get IRS letters, so you should cooperate with that and provide the IRS any requested information (such as confirming the child lived more than half the year with your ex).
@jonneal66 wrote:
I pretty sure that is my only questions when filling out the taxes were
did Jonathan stay with me more: Yes
did Savannah stay with me: No
then I believe it said son was eligible and daughter was not.that was my only part…
I don't have time to play with the software but generally, if you indicate the child lived with you less than half the year, the child should not be listed on your return, unless you answered a followup question in a non-quite-right way. For example, if the child is over 18, the questions will be different.
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