Our 11 year old is "nondependent", even though we are filing as married

[VictorHelsing]

We have a natural 11 year old child, born after we were married, and we have always filed as married.  This year, even though we entered the data the same way, and were told that we qualified for child tax break, the child is listed as "nondependent" on our information page and not listed on our 1040 form.  We filled out the dependent worksheet manually at first, (nondependent) and went back and filled it out in the step by step, which told us we were qualified for tax deduction, yet she is still listed not listed as dependent on our 1040.  Due to some major investment capital gains this year, our income reach several hundred thousand (mostly capital gains), higher than previous years.

[xmasbaby0]

Not sure what you did.....

Make sure you have entered your child as a dependent in My Info, and that you have entered the child's Social Security number.    Careful— do not say that your child’s SSN is not valid for employment.  If your child was born in 2022 make sure you said he lived with you the whole year.  There is an oddly worded question that asks if the child paid over half their own support.  Say NO to that question.

[xmasbaby0]

Sometimes it helps to just delete the child and then re-enter them as a dependent in My Info.

[VictorHelsing]

We did that, listing her as a natural child, not dead, not earning half her support, nobody else helping, lived with us entire year.  After that, we are told "Good News!  XXXX qualified you for a Tax Break.  Keep going! ..."  However, on our 1040 form, she is not listed (even though we entered her social security number, carried over from previous years tax forms).

[VictorHelsing]

Reluctant to delete her, since her data in past years was known to be correct, and has not changed this year.  Perhaps we will be forced to try that if we cannot have her recognized.  Among other things, she has a sizable UTMA account with investments for her that might have earned thousands of dollars this year, which we need to report.  If she is not listed on our tax return, maybe we end up "failing" to report her income to IRS.

[VictorHelsing · Accepted solution]

In desperation, I did delete her and reenter her, with the very same information.  She is now a dependent child.

[Paul3124]

You mentioned that your child has an UTMA account which has earned significant income. TurboTax should ask the appropriate questions about the child's form 1099 (meaning the income is reported under the child's Social Security number) which may be reporting that income, but if there are proceeds from sales of investments (stocks or funds) that are reported on a 1099-B, then that income cannot be reported on a Form 8814 as part of the parents' return. Only interest, dividends and capital gains distributions earned by a child (reported to the recipient on forms 1099-INT and 1099-DIV) can be reported as part of the parents' return. 1099-B proceeds could require the child file a separate 1040, in which case ALL the child's income should go on that separate tax return and none of it should be reported as part of the parent's return.

[VictorHelsing]

Thank you, that is good to know.  That account is a couple of mutual funds, with only purchases ever made by us.  We do receive some reports of income and capital gains coming out of the funds.