Dependents with L1 visa

[huzferd]

We moved to the US in October 2021, and I started working with W-2. My wife and I have SSNs and our daughter was born in December 2021 and got an SSN. But my son (3 years old) was not born in the US and only has ITIN.

I have a few questions:

1. As I understood, we can't get Child tax credit for him? Only for her.

I filed on paper (Married-Filing Joint Return) in February 2022 but still didn’t get any information from IRS (online status check says: We cannot provide any information about your refund)

2. Should I call and ask status by phone from agent? I tried so many times and they just cut off after 1-2 hours waiting.

[xmasbaby0]

Mailed tax returns are taking six to nine months to be processed, so it is not a surprise that you are still waiting.  

No, you cannot get the child tax credit for a child who does not have a Social Security number.   You can only get the $500 credit for other dependents for the child who has an ITIN.

Because you mailed your return, it has to be handled by a human.   When they open your envelope and start processing your return, you will be able to see information on the IRS site.

.  TurboTax does not receive any updates from the IRS. Your ONLY source of information about your refund now is the IRS.

You need your filing status, your Social Security number and the exact amount  (line 35a of your 2021 Form 1040) of your federal refund to track your Federal refund:   

https://www.irs.gov/refunds

To track your state refund:    

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1899433-how-do-i-track-my-state-refund

[SoCalGal22 · Accepted solution]

First, I suggest setting up an ID.ME account for you and your spouse if you file jointly at the IRS.

Go to www.irs.gov  and click on Sign into your account. 

And then Sign into your Online Account. 

At the ID.me logo, you can create an account.  You'll need your state ID to setup your free account.  You can look at your 2021 account transcripts to see if the IRS has sent you letters about your refund. sent the 3 stimulus payments to you already.  If you didn't get them all, you can request the 3rd stimulus be sent to you on the 2021 return. And you can request the 1st and/or 2nd stimulus payments on a 2020 tax return.

If you have moved, you want to file a Form 8822 to report your Address Change.  It is possible the IRS has been mailing you and you have not received their letters. 

If all else fails, you can file a Form 911 to get the Tax Advocate office to review your return and tell the IRS to process it in a reasonable amount of time.  

 Do these help in any way?  Please let me know if you are looking for more detail on any one of these.

[Esther M]

Hello,

In order for you to be able to get the Child Tax Credit you are required to be Resident Aliens amongst other qualifying criteria. Under the IRS Pub 519, IRS Pub 519 , you're a resident alien for tax purposes if you meet either the "Green Card" Test or "Substantial Presence " test of 183 days. There's however additional provision that says "if you do not meet either of these tests, you may
be able to choose to be treated as a U.S. residents for part of the year" under the provision called "First-Year Choice". 

Under the First-Year-Choice, in your case, you may choose to be treated as a U.S. resident for rest of 2021 if you meet the substantial presence test for 2022, and  :

1.  You're present in the US for at least 31 days in 2021, and

2.  You're present in the United States for at least 75% of the number of days beginning with the first day of the 31-day period and ending with the last day of 2021. For purposes of this 75% requirement, you can treat up to 5 days of absence from the United States as days of presence in the United States

When counting the days of presence in (1) and (2) above, do not count the days you were in the United States under any of the exceptions discussed earlier under the Days of Presence in the United States stated in Pub 519.

If you chose to be treated as US residents in 2021, then your daughter who was born in the U.S. and has a valid SSN will qualify for child tax credit but your son who only has an ITIN will NOT qualify. Please see further information here What is Child Tax Credit?  You son may be eligible for the $500 Dependent Relative Credit. If you did NOT chose to be treated as U.S. residents for the rest of 2021, then neither of your children will qualify because your family did not meet either the Green Card or the Substantial Presence tests.

Assuming you chose to be treated as U.S. residents for the rest of 2021 and you're still not able to get any information about your refund at the IRS's  "Get Refund Status" portal after six months, you may want to call and speak to a rep or visit your local IRS office to sort things out. In order to get a chance to speak with an IRS rep on the phone, you should try and make the call between 7am - 8am your local time.

[SuziM]

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