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Why am I unable to claim my son? He has been with me and in my care all year.

 
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Why am I unable to claim my son? He has been with me and in my care all year.

Make sure you have entered your child as a dependent in My Info, and that you have entered the child's Social Security number. If your child was born in 2019 make sure you said he lived with you the whole year.

 

 

 Your child-related credits are affected in a big way by how much income you earned by working.  If you only earned a small amount of money in 2019 then you will not get a big refund.

 

 

Make very sure that you have entered every cent of income you received in 2019 in Federal>Wages and Income.  Every 2019 W-2 and every 2019 1099 you received have to be entered on the same tax return.

 

Your earned income credit is based on how much you earned by working.  There is a link below that you can use to see how much EIC you should be getting for the number of children you claimed under your filing status--Single, Head of Household or Married Filing Jointly.   (If you file married filing separately you cannot get EIC)

 

The child tax credit is a credit of UP to $2000, but not everyone gets the full amount.  First the credit is applied to any tax you owe.  Then the "refundable" amount of up to $1400 is calculated.  Look at box 1 of your W-2.  Subtract $2500 from that.  Then take that number and multiply by 15%.  That is your refundable amount --or "additional child tax credit" amount.   If you did not earn at least $2500 you cannot get any child tax credit at all.

Look at your 2019 Form 1040 to see the child-related credits you received

 

PREVIEW 1040

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1901539-how-do-i-preview-my-turbotax-online-return-before-filing

 

Child Tax Credit line 13a

Credit for Other Dependents line 13a

Earned Income Credit line 18a

Additional Child Tax Credit line 18b

Child and Dependent Care Credit line 18d

 

 

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1900923-what-is-the-child-tax-credit

https://www.irs.gov/help/ita/does-my-childdependent-qualify-for-the-child-tax-credit-or-the-credit-f...

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1900643-what-is-the-child-and-dependent-care-credit

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1899157-what-are-the-qualifications-for-the-earned-income-credit-e...

https://www.irs.gov/credits-deductions/individuals/earned-income-tax-credit/use-the-eitc-assistant

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/4499708-what-is-the-500-credit-for-other-dependents-family-tax-cre...

 

**Disclaimer: Every effort has been made to offer the most correct information possible. The poster disclaims any legal responsibility for the accuracy of the information that is contained in this post.**

View solution in original post

2 Replies

Why am I unable to claim my son? He has been with me and in my care all year.

Make sure you have entered your child as a dependent in My Info, and that you have entered the child's Social Security number. If your child was born in 2019 make sure you said he lived with you the whole year.

 

 

 Your child-related credits are affected in a big way by how much income you earned by working.  If you only earned a small amount of money in 2019 then you will not get a big refund.

 

 

Make very sure that you have entered every cent of income you received in 2019 in Federal>Wages and Income.  Every 2019 W-2 and every 2019 1099 you received have to be entered on the same tax return.

 

Your earned income credit is based on how much you earned by working.  There is a link below that you can use to see how much EIC you should be getting for the number of children you claimed under your filing status--Single, Head of Household or Married Filing Jointly.   (If you file married filing separately you cannot get EIC)

 

The child tax credit is a credit of UP to $2000, but not everyone gets the full amount.  First the credit is applied to any tax you owe.  Then the "refundable" amount of up to $1400 is calculated.  Look at box 1 of your W-2.  Subtract $2500 from that.  Then take that number and multiply by 15%.  That is your refundable amount --or "additional child tax credit" amount.   If you did not earn at least $2500 you cannot get any child tax credit at all.

Look at your 2019 Form 1040 to see the child-related credits you received

 

PREVIEW 1040

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1901539-how-do-i-preview-my-turbotax-online-return-before-filing

 

Child Tax Credit line 13a

Credit for Other Dependents line 13a

Earned Income Credit line 18a

Additional Child Tax Credit line 18b

Child and Dependent Care Credit line 18d

 

 

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1900923-what-is-the-child-tax-credit

https://www.irs.gov/help/ita/does-my-childdependent-qualify-for-the-child-tax-credit-or-the-credit-f...

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1900643-what-is-the-child-and-dependent-care-credit

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1899157-what-are-the-qualifications-for-the-earned-income-credit-e...

https://www.irs.gov/credits-deductions/individuals/earned-income-tax-credit/use-the-eitc-assistant

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/4499708-what-is-the-500-credit-for-other-dependents-family-tax-cre...

 

**Disclaimer: Every effort has been made to offer the most correct information possible. The poster disclaims any legal responsibility for the accuracy of the information that is contained in this post.**
Bees
Level 7

Why am I unable to claim my son? He has been with me and in my care all year.

One of the questions asked in the setup of a dependent is  whether the child provided more then half its own income. The answer is No because you did. It is easy to read that question wrong.

 In fact, if that does not work, go back through the questions and read each one ALOUD to yourself. Honest-it helps me find my mistakes.

Disclaimer: Not a tax professional. Information gathered from internet links. Anything dated in June 2019 was posted in prior years and is before the 2019 limits and changes.
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