Ok, so here is what happened. I am NOt a tax expert so that is why I screwed this one up. My boyfriend and I live together and both claimed our girls on our returns but for DIFFERENT credits. We did not double up on credits but I claimed all 3 for the child tax credit and 2 for daycare where he claimed 1 for daycare and all three for the EIC. My return was accepted and we already received the refund. However, his was a itemized form, so it just got rejected saying we were using soc sec #'s more than once!! I don't understand, we are not cheating, do I just need to print and send it in, how do I get around this?
Thank you everyone for your advice, I ended up going to a tax professional today to have everything fixed. I am irritated that I made this mistake, but I am glad its getting fixed so their are no suproses down the road!
I would call the IRS or another tax advisor. Some families swap every other year so one year one parent claims them all and vice versa. If you all live together, I'd probably pick one of you to claim them for the year since all the refunds are going to the same "pot" anyway.
a child's ss can only be on 1 tax return each year, it doesn't matter how it's being claimed. I'd go to a professional
only one of you can use the children each year, period. one of you will have to redo your return and pay back any refund plus a fee probably to make this right, and expect to be audited now too and probably for the next few years.
only one of you can claim the children on one tax return. The IRS automatically rejects a return if a social security number is used on two different returns. You should look into whether you need to amend your return because if you can claim more deductions for the kids, you may get a bigger refund. Your boyfriend will have to redo his taxes and resubmit without claiming them as dependents.
You can't both claim her, even if it's for different things. You'll have to amend yours and each of you only claim one child each or one of you claim all. Each child can only be claimed once. Sorry. :(
It doesn't matter what reason you are using the SSN for, you can only use it on one return per year. Period. Trying to use it more than once, even if you're not trying to be fraudulent, you are opening yourself up to an audit. Acutally, in this case, YOU are not, he is. Also, I don't believe you can claim EIC without claiming them as dependents.
You're going to have to alternate years for credits. You can only use the SS# once per year. Period. One of your goes for all or nothing every other year or you file a joint return.
I would do an amended return and claim all the credits for the kids on ONE return. You cannot file using the SS #s more than once. They will always get rejected. This might mean you filing for just you (and paying back the money you received in a refund -- or a portion of it); and him filing an amended one for him/the kids, itemizing and claiming all the credits you did. I would send them in TOGETHER with an explanatory letter and not file electronically if you do this. There is a special form for Amended return, I believe.
I am not a tax professional, but my parents had to file amended returns for a different reason before.
You can only use a child's SS# once -so one of you doesn't get to claim them on the taxes. If I were you, I would call the number that's probably listed on his rejection form and ask them how to handle it. You can bet the IRS will explain to you exactly how this type of situation must be handled!
They can't be claimed on both. It's one or the other, no matter how you claim them.
You'll have to amend your's and he'll need to not include them on his.
Even though the children maybe used as qualifying children for the both of you, only one of you can claim them for both of those qualifying credits. You will probably have to amend both returns.
