Form 2441: MFS spouse earned incoming must be entered

[jessbean]

I'm married with a child but filing separately as I am seeking a legal separation from my spouse. I am receiving error message "Form 2441: MFS spouse earned incoming must be entered". Have I done something wrong or am I required to get in contact with my estranged spouse to enter his earned income simply because I am claiming a child as my dependent?

[NCperson]

Please read through the link below

https://www.irs.gov/instructions/i2441

Especially the section on filing separately


How many months did you list your child lived with you?

[jessbean]

My child lived with me the entire year. I already read through the irs site but I'm unclear why specifying the spouse income is needed if filing separately

[NCperson]

Because of this line in the link

“If the child was with each parent for an equal number of nights, the custodial parent is the parent with the higher adjusted gross income”

If you are using CD version, look at the worksheet after line 18

You do not have to take spouse’s earned income into account if all 3 items are true

1) spouses lived apart for last 6 months of the year
2) you provided over half the cost of keeping up your home
3) child lived with you over half the year

If all 3 items are true, then I suspect you have a setting set incorrectly in TT as obtaining spouse’s earned income is not necessary

[jessbean]

Yes I meet the requirements so will try to investigate further about what settings are triggering this requirement in turbo tax. Thanks very much for your timely reply.

[NCperson]

look at the 'personal' section and look at how you answered the questions about your spouse. somewhere in there is what i suspect is triggering the request for his earned income 

there is a question about whether he lived with you from July 1 to Dec 31 and if you answer no, there is another question whether he lived with you at all during the year.   I suspect the problem is somewhere in here.