I entered my child on taxes but said other parent will claim him. It isn’t accepting his return when he claims him. I looked on my return and he is not listed as a depend

[Opus 17 · Accepted solution]

One of you made a mistake.

If you are unmarried living together, the parent who wants to claim the child as a dependent lists the child and says "no" to the custody agreement question.  This only applies to legal orders between divorced or separated parents living apart and sharing custody.  The parent who is not claiming the child deletes the child completely.  If you are living together, re-run the dependent interview on the un-filed tax return to change the answer to the custody question, then mail the return.  The filed return not claiming the child will have to be amended to delete the child completely.  If your return says the child is "Not a dependent this year; use for EIC and HOH only", then you may have incorrectly claimed the dependent care credit or EIC and have to pay it back.

If you are separated or divorced and living apart sharing custody, then:

The only person who has the automatic right to claim a child as a dependent is the parent where the child lives more than half the nights of the year (183 or more nights).  The IRS is federal law and is not bound by state court orders.There is no such thing as "equal custody", you have to actually count the number of nights if you aren't sure. 

The custodial parent may give the non-custodial parent a signed release form 8332 that allows the non-custodial parent to claim the child as a dependent.  This allows the non-custodial parent to claim the child tax credit only.  Qualification for EIC, head of household status, and the dependent care credit, always stay with the custodial parent and can't be waived, transferred or shared.

If you are the custodial parent, you answer that you had custody more than half the year, there is a custody agreement, you will give the other parent form 8332.  The program will properly claim EIC, head of household and the dependent care credit (if otherwise qualified) and will not claim the child tax credit.

The non-custodial parent must answer that they had custody less than half the year, there is a custody agreement, they do have a signed form 8332.  This will properly claim the child tax credit only.  The non-custodial parent will have to mail the form 8332 to the IRS after e-filing the rest of the return.

If your ex is the non-custodial parent and is getting blocked, then they are probably answering that the did have custody, in order to qualify for head of household status and EIC on top of the child tax credit.  This is fraud, and is causing the block.  They need to change their answers.  You need to make sure you send them a signed form 8332 dependent release, because they have to mail the signed original to the IRS after e-filing.  If they don't, the credit will be denied.

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f8332.pdf

[mack284]

Thank you, that makes sense now! I wish they would explain that a little better. If together and unmarried only one person puts child on their taxes period.

[Opus 17]

That's a subject that some of us have been fighting for 3 years.  But someone in Turbotax program design has told us that asking "do you live together unmarried with the other parent" is too "sensitive" a question.

[mack284]

Haha right. Then they shouldn’t be doing it if they’re embarrassed! That or if you hit “yes” it shouldn’t give “some” money.