Earned Income Credit Question?

Question

As part of my divorce agreement my ex husband gets to claim my son every year on his taxes. My ex does not qualify to receive the EIC because he earns more than the max. amount. My son lives with me all year long. My question is am I able to claim my son for the EIC even though I don't claim him on my taxes?

Answer 1

The requirements for claiming a qualifying child for EIC are:
1. Your child must meet the relationship, age, and residency tests.
2. Your qualifying child cannot be used by more than one person to claim the EIC.
3. You cannot be a qualifying child of another person.

Yes, you can claim your son for EIC, and your ex-husband claims him on his taxes (as dependent)

Answer 2

The first answer has some wrong info. You can claim the EIC and file electronically if you remember to only claim the EIC and do not list the child as a dependent. If you do this correctly, you can both electronically file. The only time it will bounce back is if you both try to claim the dependency. If you don't know how to do this, go to H&R Block (sorry, I work there so I'm partial). Do not wait until tax time (it's busier) and they can amend the last few years returns which can net you a lot of extra money (up to $4400 per year!). Take your old returns in as soon as possible to see what they can do!

Answer 3

There are about 25 questions that have to be answered yes in order to claim the Earned Income Credit (see pub 596 table of contents). Assuming that you meet the other requirements to receive the EIC your ex-husband can claim your son for the dependency exemption and the Child Tax Credit. And you can claim him for the Earned Income Credit, Head of Household filing status and the Dependent Care Credit. See the special rules for divorced or separated parents on p11 pub 501 and Applying this special test to divorced or separated parents on p13 pub 501. Both of these publications are available for download at www.irs.gov.

If both you and your ex- file your returns electronically, it is very likely that whoever files first their return will be accepted and whoever files 2nd's return will be rejected with a code that says some to the effect that the dependent ssn has already been used. If this happens it doesn't mean that either party has done anything wrong, just that the 2ND return has to be processed by mail.

Hope this helps

Answer 4

By your description of the facts (and assuming that all other tests for a "qualifying child" are met, YOU have the absolute right to claim your child as a dependent, and as a qualifier for both head of household and the EIC. Qualifiers for HOH and for EIC are fact-based and cannot be signed over to the other parent. (Here, you have custody for more than half the year, so that makes the child YOUR qualifying child.)The dependent exemption , and along with it the child tax credit ,if applicable, and the child care credit (if the parent claiming it paid for the care) can be signed over.

Your child's Dad must attach to his return either form 8332, signed by you or a copy of the divorce decree signed by you in order to claim your son's dependent exemption, etc...

Just to clarify one of the other replies: The first taxpayer to
E-file with a child on his/her return as a dependent or HOH Qf'r or EIC Qf'r generally prevents any later filer from including that same child in that same capacity.

SO, be sure that Dad understands tha he gets only those benefits that go with the dependent exemption, mentioned above. If he filed correctly, you will still be able to e-file and claim HOH & EIC with this child as your qualifier ( assuming all other tests are met.)

Answer 5

Yes, you should be able to qualify for Non-Dependent EIC along with being Head of Household.