Turbo efile rejected twice after submitted with payment. What should we do?

[TriniNessa04]

My boyfriend & I are not married, but claim one child each of our children with no issues for the past several years.  Turbo this time around made mention of adding a dependent at $0 dependent care for a dependent that is not being claimed, which we did, but one of us entered the SSN for one of the children not claimed & one of us left the SSN clear.  Now it's creating issues on my boyfriend's filing as it was rejected twice for the same thing, but we can't get to the section to remove the child dependent to fix this error code 2441.  It's not even showing the other child to be removed.  He's already paid & submitted the efile twice so we're being told we can't clear the form to start over to remove.  Not sure what to do here at this point especially since he's already paid for the return, or what would happen if we attempted to clear the form.   

[MonikaK1]

If the return has been rejected multiple times, and the issue involves using the SSN of a dependent appearing on another return, it may no longer be possible to e-file the return. Instead, the return as completed using TurboTax can be printed and filed by mail.

See this TurboTax help article for more information and instructions.

See also this IRS webpage regarding rejection errors for Social Security numbers used on another return.

[TriniNessa04]

So can I still amend my tax return to remove the SSN of the child dependent & refile?

Would I have to pay again or also send in the amendment by mail? I already received my refund but don’t want to touch the money in case I owe anything back per the adjustment. 
If we decide to amend my tax return by adding both of our kids onto my amended tax return, do I then need to add the rest of the mortgage interest and property tax that was originally split between us?

[ErnieS0 · Accepted solution]

You can amend and re-file your return. TurboTax does not charge for an amended return if you filed the original with TurboTax. Occasionally you will have to upgrade and pay extra if your amendment covers a situation that is not handled by your current version of TurboTax.

Amending can take 16 weeks or more (sometime in July) so your boyfriend would have to file an extension.

You can add a dependent without adding any deductions. 

I’m not understanding what you mean by: “one of us entered the SSN for one of the children not claimed & one of us left the SSN clear.” 

If your boyfriend added the child you are claiming for dependent care and claimed no expenses, have you tried deleting your child care info and putting back in just the info about the child your boyfriend is claiming?

1. Tap Tax Tools in the left column
2. Tap Tools
3. Select Delete a Form in Tools Center
4. Scroll down to Form 2441 and delete
5. Click Continue With My Return in the lower right when you are finished

Your boyfriend still may not be able to e-file, but he can mail in his return. That’s faster than waiting for his amended return to come through.

[Opus 17 · Accepted solution]

@TriniNessa04 

We need to take a big step backwards.

The main thing to understand, is that when two parents live together unmarried and share custody of their children, each child may only be claimed as a dependent by one of the parents. The other parent should not even list the child on their tax return.  During the dependent interview, when you are asked about custody of the child you want to claim, you should answer “no“ that you do not have a custody agreement with the other parent, because this question only applies to legal agreements between parents who live apart and share custody.  

There is a special tax provision in the case of parents who live apart, that allows the parent who has custody to claim the dependent care credit, even if they allow the non-custodial parent to claim the child as a dependent. But this “splitting” the benefits of a dependent cannot be used when the two parents live together.

So the first question is, if you filed first and were accepted, what did you actually put on your tax return? Did you only list one dependent, or did you list  both dependents, and did you claim both dependents or did you say that you had a custody agreement and the other parent was claiming a child?  If you listed both children, but then said that one of the children had a custody agreement, that is what is causing the rejection of your boyfriend’s tax return.

You now have two choices. Either your boyfriend removes all the dependents and claims none of the children, and you file an amended return to change your answers, and claim all the tax benefits of both children, by saying that there is no custody agreement; or your boyfriend can claim one child as a full dependent, and you need to file an amended return to remove the second child completely from your tax return.

If your boyfriend removes all of the dependent children from his tax return, he should be allowed to e-file without rejection. However, it may be difficult to do this using TurboTax online because certain parts of the program are “sticky”.  He would go into the section to review his personal information, look at the list of dependents, and click the delete button or trashcan icon next to each dependents, to delete them all from the tax return.  This should in theory, delete any other forms that are connected to those children and allow him to e-file.

If your plan is for your boyfriend to claim one child as a dependent, he will need to check the list of dependents and delete all the children.  Then re-add the child he wants to claim, and make sure that during the custody interview, he says that there is no agreement with the other parent to share custody.  In this case, your boyfriend will print his tax return and file by mail.  No refund of fees is required because the fee covers preparing a tax return and does not guarantee e-filing.  If he gets a valid tax return, then he got what he paid for even if he has to mail it.  

It will be free for you to amend your return, but don't file the amended return until your original refund claim is paid.  The IRS e-file database is not updated during tax season, which means that if your boyfriend wants to claim a dependent that you originally added to your return by mistake, he will never be able to e-file and will always have to mail his tax return.  So there's no rush for you to amend.

You can also post back here with more details if you are having trouble diagnosing the problem.  

[TriniNessa04]

Really appreciate the time taken to post the best guidance & options with my mishap here. We’ve been golden every year so far with claiming of our kids & have a verbal agreement with each other without a custody agreement situation since we live together with them. We each claim one kid each year, splitting the mortgage interest & property taxes.

However this time I did some reason got confused with the non dependent question when asked while entering my child’s care expenses. I don’t recall that being a question before. Can’t remember the specific question, but it was something like “do you have a non dependent child not claimed?” I guess I misunderstood as I went through the guidance on that when it asked “why would I add a non dependent “.  It said to add at zero expenses which I should’ve looked into a little deeper. We wouldn’t be in this situation had I did that & went with my gut to not add my other non claimed child. Wish I could go back in time as taxes can get confusing at times.  

So it seems the best option is to have my boyfriend print his return & mail as is but I think we need to make sure we have the custody question answered correctly before we mail in. 

If he mails in, does he have to also send in all his supporting docs like W2, etc being that was uploaded or imported online? 
can we possibly fax it in?

[TriniNessa04]

Forgot to ask one more question about the IRS not updating the database during tax season. So does this mean that my boyfriend will have to file by mail every year for this issue moving forward?

[TriniNessa04]

I misunderstood the adding of a non dependent to maximize the dependent care credit I think. Since the IRS recognizes my other child it had already pulled his SSN without me entering it. So I overlooked that. The adding a non dependent not claimed threw me off. I shouldn’t have done it at all. I shouldn’t have to pay extra as all I want to do is remove any instance of my other child added in error. Hoping this goes smoothly & doesn’t affect future filings. 

[Opus 17]

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@TriniNessa04 wrote:

I misunderstood the adding of a non dependent to maximize the dependent care credit I think. Since the IRS recognizes my other child it had already pulled his SSN without me entering it. So I overlooked that. The adding a non dependent not claimed threw me off. I shouldn’t have done it at all. I shouldn’t have to pay extra as all I want to do is remove any instance of my other child added in error. Hoping this goes smoothly & doesn’t affect future filings. 

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It sounds like Turbotax automatically claimed one of your children, maybe because you used Turbotax last year?

If you claimed child 1 as a dependent and child 2 for dependent care only, but your partner wants to claim child 2 as a dependent, then your partner can print and mail their return. (They will also have to print and mail their state return if you live in a state with income tax.). Then you will file an amended return to remove child 2 from your return.  There should not be any additional Turbotax fees for this. 

[TriniNessa04]

Yes that’s exactly what I was thinking TT did so I’m hoping the amendment should be pretty straight forward with no issues. 

[TriniNessa04]

So will my boyfriend have to also include supporting docs by mail? Do you think they’ll come back with a different return amount that what TT gave? 

[Opus 17 · Accepted solution]

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@TriniNessa04 wrote:

So will my boyfriend have to also include supporting docs by mail? Do you think they’ll come back with a different return amount that what TT gave? 

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Your partner does not include any documents.  Generally, the IRS will pay the refund as requested on his tax return (they will accept the dependent claim when filing by mail, even though it is blocked for e-filing).

About 6-9 months after filing, if there is still a duplicate dependent claim in the IRS computers, the IRS will send letters to both people who claimed the dependent to advise them that there is a problem.  When that happens, sometimes that conflict is resolved by mailing documents.  But if you have amended your return by that time to remove the conflicting dependent, the need for an IRS letter will never come up.  

[TriniNessa04]

Opus you rock!! 😊🫶🏼

[MarilynG1]

When you mail a tax return, you need to attach any documents showing tax withheld, such as your W-2’s or any 1099’s.  

Use a mailing service that will track it, such as UPS or certified mail so you will know the IRS and/or your state received the return.

@TriniNessa04 

[Opus 17]

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@TriniNessa04 wrote:

So will my boyfriend have to also include supporting docs by mail? Do you think they’ll come back with a different return amount that what TT gave? 

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OK, I did maybe misunderstand.

He does not need to attach any supporting documents regarding the dependent.

He does need to attach his W-2s to the front page.  He does not attach 1099s, except for 1099-R (for retirement income).  This should be covered in the instruction page that will print with his return.

Some states also require attaching W-2s, but some states don't.  Some states require attaching a copy of the federal return with the state return, some states don't.  This will also be covered in the instruction page that prints with the tax return.