A big part of the Earned Income Tax Credit relates to how many qualifying children, if any, you have. In some cases, a qualifying child may meet the requirements to be claimed by more than one person. If this occurs, only one taxpayer can claim the child. That means that in order to claim the EITC, your qualifying child(ren) can’t be claimed by any other person.
You also aren’t eligible to split benefits for the qualifying child. This means that only one taxpayer can claim:
- The child’s exemption
- The child tax credit
- Head of household
- Child and Dependent Care Credit
- Dependent Care Benefits
- The Earned Income Tax Credit
Whichever person claims the child for the above tax benefits, is entitled to claim the child for all of the benefits.
Tiebreakers
If two taxpayers can claim the same child as a qualifying child at tax time, rules exist to determine who is entitled to the tax benefits. However, if the other taxpayer is your spouse and you file a joint return, tiebreaker rules do not apply. If only one person is the child’s parent, generally the claim lies with the parent.
If both parents are eligible to claim the child and do not file joint return, the claim lies with the parent whom the child resided with for a longer period of time. If the child’s time was spent 50/50 with each parent, the parent with the higher AGI is able to claim the child. If the person to whom the child is eligible cannot claim the benefits due to earned income limits, then the child may be considered a qualifying child of someone else. However, this only applies is the child was not used to claim any of the other tax benefits listed.
Once a credit is claimed using a qualifying child, only that taxpayer can claim the child on any other credits.
