How do I access Empire State child credit and earned income credit on my New York State return. The usual tabs are missing?

It depends. You may not be seeing the tabs for the Empire State Child Credit and the Earned Income Credit on your NY return if you do not qualify for these credits. 

To qualify for the Empire State Child Credit:

• you did not claim the New York State earned income credit (EIC),
• You have to be a full-year NYS resident.
• were a full-year New York State resident,
• were at least 18 years of age,
• are a parent of a child (or children) who did not reside with you and was under 18 years old,
• have an order in effect for at least one-half of the tax year requiring you to make child support payments payable through a New York State Support Collection Unit, (SCU) and
• have paid at least the court-ordered amount of child support during the tax year.

To qualify for the New York Earned Income Credit you must have not:

• claimed the Empire Child State Credit and
• qualified for and claimed the federal earned income credit, or could have, based on your New York recomputed Federal Adjusted Gross Income (FAGI) and recomputed earned income amounts calculated on your return.

If you do qualify for the Empire State Child Credit , please follow these steps in TurboTax Online:

1. Open your New York return.
2. Continue through the pages until you get to the page Take a look at New York credits and taxes.
3. On this page, you will see a section for the Empire State Tax Credit (please see snapshot below)
4. Click on Start and follow the on screen instructions

For more information, please see Noncustodial parent earned income credit and Earned Income Credit.