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8.1 Earned Income Tax Credit: Qualifying Child Rules
If the child is born in the last week of December, can the child be a qualifying
child for the Earned Income Credit and how do you file without a social security number?
Normally, to be your qualifying child and meet the residency test, your child must
have lived with you for more than half of the tax year. For Earned Income purposes,
if your child was born or died during the year, the child is considered to meet the
test as if they child lived with you for the entire time he or she was alive during
the tax year.
For example, if your child was born on October 1, 2003, and lived with you for
the remainder of the year, your child meets the residency test.
If your child does not have a social security number, apply for one by filling
out Form SS-5 with the Social Security Administration,
or call the Social Security Administration at 1-800-772-1213. It usually takes about
2 weeks to get a social security number.
If the filing deadline is approaching and you still do not have a social security
number, you have two choices.
1. File the return on time without claiming the Earned Income Credit. After receiving
the social security number, file Form 1040X (PDF) , Amended
U.S. Individual Income Tax Return, claiming the Earned Income Credit. Attach a completed Form 1040, Schedule EIC (PDF) , Earned Income Credit.
Refer to Tax Topic 308, Amended Returns for information.
2. Request an automatic 4-month extension of time to file your return. You can
get this extension by filing Form 4868 (PDF), Application
for Automatic Extension of Time to File U.S. Individual Income Tax Return. Refer
to Tax Topic 304 Extensions of Time to File Your Tax Return. for more
information.
References:
My child was born and only lived 40 minutes. Can she be used as a qualifying
child when figuring the Earned Income Credit and the Child Tax Credit?
If your child was born alive and died during the same year, and the exemption tests
are met, you can take the full exemption. This is true even if the child lived only
for a moment. Whether your child was born alive depends on state or local law. There
must be proof of a live birth shown by an official document such as a birth certificate.
Under these circumstances, if you do not have a social security number for the child,
you may attach a copy of the child's birth certificate instead and enter "DIED" in
column 2 of line 6c of the Form 1040 or 1040A.
If you have determined that you are eligible to claim your child's exemption, you
may also be eligible to claim the Child Tax Credit. Please refer to the
Instructions for Form 1040 (General Inst.) or
Instructions for Form 1040A for
the Child Tax Credit. The referenced pages will explain who qualifies for this credit
and how to calculate it.
The Earned Income Credit generally requires that you provide a valid social security
number for your qualifying child. However, if you meet all the other requirements
to claim this credit and your child was born and died in the same year, you will not
be required to provide a social security number for that child. Instead, you may enter "DIED" on line 4 of Form 1040, Schedule EIC (PDF),
Earned Income Credit, and attach a copy of the child's birth certificate.
References:
In order to claim the Earned Income Credit, does the child have to be claimed
as a dependent?
A qualifying child for the Earned Income Credit does not need to qualify as a dependent
unless he or she is married.
Refer to Publication 596, Earned Income Credit, for a full discussion of the
Earned Income Credit rules.
References:
If you are single with two children who lived with you all year, but are
releasing the dependency exemption for one of your dependents via Form 8332, can both
children still be considered qualifying children for Earned Income Credit purposes?
As long as the relationship test is met, your qualifying child for the Earned Income
Credit does not need to be your dependent, unless he or she is married. For information
as to whether or not a married child is your qualifying child for earned income credit,
refer to Rule 7, Qualifying Child, in Publication 596, Earned
Income Credit.
References:
If the noncustodial parent receives permission from the custodial parent
to claim a child on his or her tax return, is the noncustodial parent eligible for
the Earned Income Credit?
The noncustodial parent cannot claim the Earned Income Credit on the basis of that
child because the child did not live with that parent and does not meet the residency
test. The custodial parent may be able to claim the Earned Income Credit.
Refer to Publication 596, Earned Income Credit, for the Earned Income
Credit rules .
References:
My wife and I have two children and we are going to file separate returns
this year. Can we each claim one child for the Earned Income Credit?
In order to qualify for the Earned Income Credit, your filing status cannot be
Married Filing Separately. If you are married, you usually must file a joint return
to claim the Earned Income Credit.
However, if you are married and your spouse did not live in your home at any time
during the last 6 months of the year, you may be able to file as Head of Household.
In that case, you may be able to claim the Earned Income Credit.
Please refer to Publication 596, Earned Income Credit, for a complete
discussion of the Earned Income Credit. Refer to Publication 501, Exemptions,
Standard Deduction, and Filing Information, for the Head of Household filing
status rules.
References:
8.2 Earned Income Tax Credit: Taxable & Nontaxable Income
Is child support considered income when calculating the Earned Income Credit?
No, for purposes of calculating the Earned Income Credit, child support is not
considered earned income.
Please refer to Publication 596, Earned Income Credit , for a complete
discussion of the Earned Income Credit. Earned income is defined in Rule 6 of this
publication.
References:
8.3 Earned Income Tax Credit: Other EITC Issues
If both parents want to claim the Earned Income Credit, who is entitled
to it if there was no marriage?
If the child is a qualifying child of both parents, they may choose which one will
claim the credit. If there are two qualifying children, each parent may claim the
credit on the basis of one of the children. If both actually claim the credit on the
basis of the same child or children, the parent who is entitled to the credit is the
parent with whom the child lived for the longest period of time during the tax year,
or the parent with the higher Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) if the child lived with
each parent for the same amount of time during the year.
Refer to Publication 596, Earned Income Credit, for full discussion
of the Earned Income Credit rules.
References:
Can I get the earned income credit?
You may be able to take this credit for 2003 if you did not have a qualifying child
and you earned less than $11,230 ($12,230 for married filing jointly). You may also
be able to take this credit if you had one qualifying child and you earned less than
29,666 ($30,666 for married filing jointly), or you had more than one qualifying child
and you earned less than $33,692 ($34,692 for married filing jointly). Other rules
apply. For details, refer to Tax Topic 601, Earned Income Credit (EIC),
or Publication 596, Earned Income Credit.
References:
Can Form 1040EZ be used to claim the earned income credit?
You can use Form 1040EZ (PDF) when claiming the earned
income credit only if you do not have a qualifying child. However, you must meet several
requirements to use Form 1040EZ. If you do not meet all of them, you must use Form 1040A (PDF) or Form 1040 (PDF).
For additional information on the requirements, refer to Tax Topic 352, Which
Form - 1040, 1040A or 1040EZ.
References:
- Form 1040 (PDF), U.S. Individual Income
Tax Return
- Form 1040A (PDF), U.S. Individual Income
Tax Return
- Form 1040EZ (PDF), U.S. Individual
Income Tax Return for Single and Joint Filers with No Dependents
- Tax Topic 352, Which Form - 1040, 1040A or 1040EZ
What are advance earned income credit payments?
If you expect to qualify for the earned income credit in 2004, you may be able
to start getting part of the credit with your pay in 2004, instead of waiting until
you file your 2004 tax return in 2005. This is called the advance earned income credit
or AEIC.
To get part of the credit with your pay, you must expect to have at least one qualifying
child, and expect to meet certain other conditions. You cannot get the AEIC if you
do not expect to have a qualifying child, even if you will be eligible to claim the
earned income credit on your 2003 return. To see if you qualify, refer to Form W-5 (PDF), Earned Income Credit Advance Payment Certificate,
or Publication 596, Earned Income Credit. Additional information on the
advance earned income credit is also available in Tax Topic 754.
References:
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