Fed Error Check - Schedule 8812

[krm57]

Running the Error Check for my Federal return, I get 2 errors in Schedule 8812, saying "Advance payments must be entered" for lines B1 and B2.

This makes no sense, I don't think I should have this Schedule. Schedule 8812 is for "Credits for Qualifying Children and Other Dependents", and I have NO dependents in my Tax return.

Please explain how I can fix this.

Thanks,

Kevin

[KrisD15]

Report zero Advance Child Tax Credits Payments Received. 

Advance Child Tax Credit Payments were issued in 2021. Some Taxpayers received the payments, but won't be claiming dependents on their 2021 Tax Year Return. 

Rather than having those Taxpayers "forget" to report the payments and claim that TurboTax never asked, TurboTax is asking EVERYONE. 

You will have Form 8812 in your list of Forms, but if the credit does not apply to you, the form will not be generated and not transmitted with your return. 

This should be isolate to tax year 2021 unless the payments are issued again in 2022. 

[krm57]

After I sent the message below, I looked in the "Forms" view, and there was no Sch 8812 in my return. In the "Step-by-Step" view I went to the "Child and other Dependent Tax Credit" (under the Deductions and Credits), and filled out the fields and, as expected, got no credit.

Then I did the error check again. I don't know why, but the errors went away (not that I'm complaining). If this is a bug in TurboTax, you should fix it.

Kevin

[PatriciaV]

Thank you for bringing this experience to our attention and reporting the outcome for your return. We appreciate the feedback on improving the experience for all our customers.

[jccolem]

How do I fix this

[MayaD]

Can you please clarify what was the error message?

Form 8812 is used to calculate the alternative refundable credit known as “the additional child tax credit”. 

If that does no apply to you:

1. Login to your account. 
2. Select federal Taxes.
3. Go to Deductions and Credits.
4. Scroll down to Child and Other Dependent Tax Credit.
5. Click Continue and on the next screen We'll start off with advance Child Tax Credit payments, select No 

[elwapo524]

In the final check I get message 'schedule 8812:advance payments received must be entered'. I have no such such deduction. how do I correct this?

[DoninGA]

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@elwapo524 wrote:

In the final check I get message 'schedule 8812:advance payments received must be entered'. I have no such such deduction. how do I correct this?

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Everyone is being asked this question since TurboTax does not know if the user was one who received these advances from the IRS in 2021.

Enter a 0 (zero) when asked to enter a number on the Schedule 8812. This will correct the issue and remove the Schedule 8812 from your tax return so that you can file the return.

[Dan1938]

We are getting a tax for child credit.  We have no such thing.

[JamesG1]

Are you being given the Child Tax Credit or are you being asked whether you received advance payments of the Child Tax Credit in 2021?

Everyone has to answer whether they received advance Child Tax Credit payments.  If you did not receive any of those payments between July and December 2021, report that you received $0.

To qualify for the Child Tax Credit, you must report a dependent who is a qualifying child.  Do you report a dependent who is a qualifying child?  

Tests to be a Qualifying Child 

1. The child must be your son, daughter, stepchild, foster child, brother, sister, half- brother, half- sister, stepbrother, stepsister, or a descendant of any of them.
2. The child must be (a) under age 19 at the end of the year and younger than you (or your spouse if filing jointly), (b) under age 24 at the end of the year, a student, and younger than you (or your spouse if filing jointly), or (c) any age if permanently and totally disabled.
3. The child must have lived with you for more than half of the year. 
4. The child must not have provided more than half of his or her own support for the year.
5. The child must not be filing a joint return for the year (unless that joint return is filed only to claim a refund of withheld income tax or estimated tax paid). 

Are you able to view the computation that the software made for the Child Tax Credit?

If you are able to view the entire 2021 1040 Federal tax return at Tax Tools / Print Center, you will see: 

• Line 12 of Federal Schedule 8812 which computes the total Child Tax Credit, and
• Line 28 of the Federal 1040 which reports the refundable amount. 

The full amount of the Child Tax Credit is not reported on the 2021 1040 Federal tax return, only the net amount after applying the advance payments.

@Dan1938
 

[Mish2847]

This is most frustrating!!  We don't have any dependents/children and are not seeking any "Credits for Qualifying Children and Other Dependents."  It is totally illogical and time consuming to try and figure out what to do with a form that shouldn't appear on the tax return in the first place.  The only explanation I could get from the technical support person was that everyone was required to use this form this year and to just enter zero. (I will be fact checking this with the IRS shortly).  Why should I have to try and figure this out when I have taken the utmost care to go through the process carefully and haven't made an error?  This is completely irrelevant and not applicable to my situation.   

[JulieS]

No, you haven't made an error. This situation is happening because of the Advanced Child Tax Credit payments that were issued to some taxpayers in 2021.

Even if you don't have a child on your tax return, you have to answer the question about the amount you received. If you received payments and did not have a child to claim in 2021, you have to pay the amount back.

If you did not receive payments, enter $0. 

[Hanksterwg]

Thanks to everyone who replied on the error check for form 8812. Being 83 and a widow, no children at home I was dumbfounded on why this popped up in the error check. Spent a bunch of time looking to see if I made a mistake. I didn’t. I was going to put zero (0) in there but felt uncomfortable doing that. So I followed the advice of going to the Cild and Other Dependent Tax Credit and answering the questions. Solved the problem, error went away. 
intuit shouldn’t make something like that a must fill field. That just screwed up an old mans mind checking to see if I made the error. 

[ckjowers]

Turbotax did not calculate the correct Child Tax Credit and I've been billed for the mistake by the IRS.  Had the Line 5 Worksheet been provided via the software, I would have entered the correct amount.  What can I do here - IRS is now asking for $3k in taxes.  

[NCperson]

@ckjowers - in essense TT did ask for the inputs for the worksheet.  Everything related to child tax credit is automated, except for your response to how much of the advance tax credit you received from July - Dec, 2021. 

Since the IRS knows how much they sent you, if you did not enter a number that matched their records, they adjusted Line 28 of your tax return to match their records.

Line 28 is simply the number of children under the age of 17 times $3000 (or $3600 for children under 6) LESS what you had already received. 

If the IRS is asking for $3,000, I suspect you have two child ages 6-17, received $3000 from July - December 2021.  Which means that on your tax return, Line 28 shows $6,000 when it should have shown $3000.  

All you can do at this point, is review your checking account records to confirm you did indeed receive $500 per month.  If yes, then unfortunately, your tax return refund is lower by $3000 (or what you owe is higher my $3,000).