My personal situation was the same in 2020 and 2021. It was recommended I file single in 2020 and head of household in 2021. Do I need to file amended 2020 return?

[done1son]

These were Turbotax recommendations. Why the difference, and is an amended return required?

[SweetieJean]

Did you claim a qualifying dependent in 2020?

[done1son]

No, because I didn’t have a qualifying dependent. However, after some research I found that the law changed, allowing me to claim my son as an “other” dependent, where prior law prohibited claiming your so if he was over 18, or 24 if in college.

[ColeenD3]

If your son qualified as an "other" dependent, yes, you would need to amend to claim him.

Qualifying child

In addition to the qualifications above, to claim an exemption for your child, you must be able to answer "yes" to all of the following questions.

• Are they related to you? The child can be your son, daughter, stepchild, eligible foster child, brother, sister, half brother, half-sister, stepbrother, stepsister, adopted child, or an offspring of any of them.
• Do they meet the age requirement? Your child must be under age 19 or, if a full-time student, under age 24. There is no age limit if your child is permanently and totally disabled.
• Do they live with you? Your child must live with you for more than half the year, but several exceptions apply.
• Do you financially support them? Your child may have a job, but that job cannot provide more than half of her support.
• Are you the only person claiming them? This requirement commonly applies to children of divorced parents. Here you must use the “tie-breaker rules,” which are found in IRS Publication 501. These rules establish income, parentage, and residency requirements for claiming a child.

Qualifying relative

Here is a checklist for determining whether a relative qualifies.

• Do they live with you? Your relative must live at your residence all year or be on the list of “relatives who do not live with you” in Publication 501. About 30 types of relatives are on this list.
• Do they make less than $4,300 in 2020 or 2021? Your relative cannot have a gross income of more than $4,300 in 2020 or 2021 and be claimed by you as a dependent.
• Do you financially support them? You must provide more than half of your relative’s total support each year.
• Are you the only person claiming them? This means you can’t claim the same person twice, once as a qualifying relative and again as a qualifying child. It also means you can’t claim a relative—say a cousin—if someone else, such as his parents, also claims him.

You amend your 2020 federal tax return, but most states require amendments to be printed and filed by mail. We'll give you instructions for your specific situation.

When you're ready to amend, select your product below and follow the instructions.

TurboTax Online

TurboTax CD/Download

Don't worry if your refund changes to $0. This is normal for amended returns.

[done1son]

My son is not totally and permanently disabled, so I will not be able to qualify under 2020 requirements, and so cannot amend my 2020 return unless you are seeing some way I’m not seeing.

[DMarkM1 · Accepted solution]

The current law was in effect before 2020 so is the same for 2020 and 2021.  As noted by @ColeenD3, your son does not need to be disabled for you to claim him as an "Other dependent."   He just needs to meet these tests:

• The person can't be your qualifying child or the qualifying child of any other taxpayer.

• The person either (a) must be related to you in one of the ways listed under Relatives who don't have to live with you , or (b) must live with you all year as a member of your household (and your relationship must not violate local law).

• The person's gross income for the year must be less than $4,300.

• You must provide more than half of the person's total support for the year.

If he is your "other dependent" (and was in 2020 as well by meeting the same tests) and lived with you for more than 1/2 the year then you would file Head of Household in 2021 and amend your 2020 return to file Head of Household as well.  

Here is IRS Publication 501 for reference.  See table 4 for the rules for a qualifying person for filing head of household and table 5 for the dependent rules.  

[done1son]

Thanks for your response, I appreciate it. Have thought about it and wonder this: if what you say is true, and I have no reason to doubt you, isn’t there some sort of guarantee offered by turbo tax, that if they make a mistake, they will remedy the situation? If so it seems to me that since they recommended single filing status in 2020, maybe it would be their responsibility to fix this by preparing the amended return. There is one other tax credit I forgot at the time, and maybe it would be nice to take care of both.

[MoniqueLO_]

Please feel free to contact Customer Support so they can assist you. If you inquire about a refund, you will want to use the keywords billing issues when you call so you get to the right person.

@done1son