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June 8, 2020
Question

I accidentally claimed my daughter as my dependent, I only put her down because I thought I had to even if her dad claimed her, were new at this lol but my return was rejected and I don’t know ho

  • June 8, 2020
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Hal_Al
Employee
June 8, 2020

Simple answer: delete your daughter from TurboTax.  In the personal info section / dependents section, there will be a delete button next to her name.  That' will allow you to e-file. That's how you handle it if you and the other parent live together*.

 

On the other hand, if you are the custodial parent, and are allowing the non custodial parent to claim the child this year, you should be aware that 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.  You have to go thru the dependent interview carefully to get this to happen correctly.

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.

 So, it's good idea to let the other parent know that you will be claiming those items, as many first time divorced parents are not aware of this rule and may try to claim those items, which will cause the IRS to send out letters.

If you have done all that correctly, and your e-file is still being rejected, it means the non custodial parent has claimed something he is not entitled to. You can no longer e-file. You will have to print and mail your return.

 

If you and the other parent live together, either one of you (but not both) may claim the child. You may decide between you which one will claim the child. Only if you can’t agree, do the IRS tie breaker rules apply, to see who has first choice. It may be worthwhile to prepare trial returns, both ways,  to see which way the family comes out best. This tool may be useful: https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tools/calculators/taxcaster/?s=1.

 

A common error is when unmarried parents live together,  If you and the other parent live together, only one of you can claim the child for any tax benefit. The interview is confusing (it's designed for divorced parents, who are allowed to split the child). The second parent should not enter the child, at all.