My son's father listed our son on his return but checked off that the other parent (me) would claim him but now it won't let me.

[ChristinaS]

Does your son primarily live with his father? Do you also live with the father?
What is the rejection message that you are receiving?
Please provide more information on "it won't let me".

[sarah92110]

"Description of error:
On Schedule EIC, the qualifying child's social security number (Line 2) cannot be used more than once in a tax return or on another return." But he specifically checked "the other parent is claiming the dependent"

[ChristinaS]

Then he claimed that the child lived with him more than half the year. EIC is NOT based on who claims the child as a dependent. It is solely based on primary custody. Do you guys live together?

[sarah92110]

Okay I understand now. We do now, yes. We aren't married. This was his first yet filing so he was probably just confused on how that worked. Thank you for your help!

[sarah92110]

Can two people not live together and file separately? I was going to file head of household because I made more and paid more expenses and he filed single but that our son was not his dependent, that the other parent (me) would claim him.

[ChristinaS]

Single and Head of Household for you is likely correct- the incorrect part is that the child was a part of his return with EIC.

[sarah92110]

Should I just not claim him this year then? Or should his father amend his return? What's the correct thing to do.

[ChristinaS]

The correct thing to do is for the parent with the higher AGI to claim everything. The correct thing is for your partner to pay back the EIC per my response

[ChristinaS · Accepted solution]

If you both live with the child, his father should remove the child from his tax return completely.

Since you have the higher AGI and pay more than half of the support of the home, everything is on your return.

Your partner's return needs to be amended to remove the Earned Income Credit. He received this credit because he indicated that the child lived with him more than half the year. That wasn't technically "lying" on his part, but it led to a tax benefit that he shouldn't get.

Because he already efiled, you will not be able to file your return electronically. You will need to mail your return, as it will continue to reject. He should mail his amendment ASAP, so the processing of your return is not held up any longer than it needs to be.

On your return, you should indicate Head of Household and claim the child as a dependent. Your partner needs to amend and remove any vestige  of the child from his return. When parents live together, its "winner takes all." The winner is the one with the higher AGI. Only parents who live apart can split up certain child-related benefits.

Please see this post- same issue:

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/3614064-how-can-i-claim-my-son-as-a-dependent-and-his-mom-claim-hi...