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:

• Publication 596, Earned Income Credit
• Form 1040X (PDF), Amended U.S. Individual Income Tax Return
• Form 4868 (PDF), Application for Automatic Extension of Time to File U.S. Individual Income Tax Return
• Form 1040, Schedule EIC (PDF), Earned Income Credit
• Tax Topic 601, Earned income credit (EITC)
• Tax Topic 308 , Amended Returns

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 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:

• Publication 501, Exemptions, Standard Deduction, and Filing Information
• Publication 596, Earned Income Credit
• Instructions for Form 1040
• Instructions for Form 1040A
• Tax Topic 601, Earned income credit (EIC)
• Tax Topic 606, Child tax credits

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:

• Publication 596, Earned Income Credit
• Tax Topic 601, Earned income tax credit (EITC)

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:

• Publication 596, Earned Income Credit
• Tax Topic 601, Earned income tax credit (EIC)
• Form 8332 (PDF), Release of Claim to Exemption for Child of Divorced or Separated Parents

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:

• Publication 596, Earned Income Credit
• Tax Topic 601, Earned income tax credit (EIC)

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:

• Publication 501, Exemptions, Standard Deduction, and Filing Information
• Publication 596, Earned Income Credit
• Tax Topic 601, Earned income tax credit (EIC)

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:

• Publication 596, Earned Income Credit
• Tax Topic 601, Earned income tax credit (EIC)

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:

• Publication 596, Earned Income Credit
• Tax Topic 601, Earned income tax credit (EIC)

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:

• Publication 596, Earned Income Credit
• Tax Topic 601, Earned income tax 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

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:

• Publication 596, Earned Income Credit
• Tax Topic 754, Form W-5 - advance earned income credit
• Form W-5 (PDF), Earned Income Credit Advance Payment Certificate