How can I still get credits for my child if the other parent Is claiming him?

[ross881850]

I forgot that it was my dependent child's father's year to claim him. Well I tried to amend my return but it keeps getting rejected. I haven't gotten the return back because they want to verify my identity. Because of this it will make my filing status they said to single. And I'd gave to mail in my amend. Because you can't electrically file if you status changes. How can I still get the head of house hold status and get at least some credits for taking care of him all year?

[Bsch4477]

If the child lives with you, you can still file as head of household and receive any child care credit and earned income credit that you are eligible to receive even if you give the other parent permission to claim the dependency by giving them form 8332. 

[xmasbaby0]

Are you the custodial parent?  Do you have an agreement with the other parent to allow the other parent to claim them--due to divorce or that you live apart and share custody?  Did one of you sign a Form 8332?

If there is a signed 8332 then the custodial parent retains the right to file as Head of Household, get earned income credit and the childcare credit.  The non-custodial parent gets the child tax credit for children under the age of 18.

As far as the IRS is concerned, the custodial parent is the one with whom the child spent the most nights during the tax year--at least 183 nights.

[ross881850]

What's form 8332?

[Hal_Al]

 There is a special rule in the case of divorced & separated (including never married) parents. When the non-custodial parent is claiming the child as a dependent/exemption/child tax credit; the custodial parent is still allowed to claim the same child for Earned Income Credit, Head of Household filing status, and day care credit. This "splitting of the child" is not available to parents who lived together at any time during the last 6 months of the year; then only one of you can claim the child for any tax reasons. The tax benefits may not be split in any other manner.

Note in particular that the non-custodial parent can never claim the Earned Income Credit, Head of Household filing status or the day care credit, based on that child, even when the custodial parent has released the dependency to him.

Ref: https://www.irs.gov/publications/p17#en_US_2017_publink1000170897

Scroll down to "Children of divorced or separated parents (or parents who live apart)"

You can if you are the custodial parent.