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June 6, 2019
Question

I claimed EIC with my child but no Child credit applied, it’s my ex wife’s year to claim the child tax credit , which she got but her tax return was rejected . Why?

  • June 6, 2019
  • 1 reply
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I received the EIC claiming our son , however did not claim him as a dependent or for the child tax credit (which turbo tax said we could do because I am the custodial parent I have him Monday through Friday I could claim EIC without claiming the child tax credit) but per divorce decree this is her year to claim the child tax credit . Once her return was submitted with EIC(she made less then 5000), the child tax credit, and him as a dependent - her return was rejected . Why and how can we fix this ?

1 reply

Hal_Al
Employee
June 6, 2019

 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 cannot pick and choose who will claim what.

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 exemption to him.


Hal_Al
Employee
June 6, 2019
You will have to file an amended return, claiming only the EIC, not the dependent.
But you should probably rethink your whole plan. With only $5000 earned income, she gets  no benefit from claiming the dependent and only $300 child tax credit (technically she gets NO child tax credit (CTC) and $300 additional child tax credit). The child tax credit is not a fixed $1000, despite what you've heard.
You should "make a deal" to give her part of the savings by letting you claim everything.