This table displays the basic eligibility rules for tax credits and benefits available to you if you have a dependent qualifying child. We compare the rules for a dependent qualifying child to the rules for the:
- Dependents
- Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)
- Child Tax Credit (CTC)
- Credit for Other Dependents (ODC)
- Child and Dependent Care Credit (CDCC)
- American Opportunity Credit (AOTC)
- Head of household (HOH) filing status
Note: We also discuss whether an individual who is not the taxpayer’s dependent qualifying child can be claimed for each tax benefit. For example:
- EITC, CDCC and HOH: In some cases, these tax benefits can be claimed for an individual not claimed as a dependent on the taxpayer’s return.
- ODC: An individual claimed for the credit can be the taxpayer’s dependent qualifying child or dependent qualifying relative.
Caution: This table is for quick comparison only. Each listed tax benefit has other requirements. This at-a-glance guide also tells you where to find more information.
| Rules | Basic Eligibility Requirements |
|---|---|
| SSN Requirement |
A child claimed as a dependent must have a:
|
| Relationship |
The child must be the taxpayer’s: Note: A person who isn't related to the taxpayer in one of these ways may still be eligible to be claimed under the rules for a dependent qualifying relative and for the ODC and HOH. The taxpayer’s spouse not capable of self-care or other person or dependent not capable of self-care may be eligible to be claimed as a qualifying person for the CDCC. See Publication 501 for more information about dependents and HOH. See the Instructions for Schedule 8812 for more information about ODC. See Publication 503 and the Instructions for Form 2441 for more information about CDCC. |
| Age | Child must be:
Note: A person who doesn't meet this rule may still be eligible to be claimed as a dependent under the rules for a dependent qualifying relative. See Publication 501 for more information. |
| Support |
The child must not provide over half of their own support for the tax year. Under the rules for parents who are divorced, separated, or living apart, for the noncustodial parent to claim the child as a dependent, the child must have received over half of their support from one or both parents. A person who doesn't meet this rule may still be eligible to be claimed as dependent under the rules for a dependent qualifying relative. Foster child: Payments the taxpayer receives for the support of a foster child from a child placement agency or from a state or county are considered support provided by the applicable agency, state or county. See Publication 501 for more information. |
| Citizenship |
The child must be:
|
| Special Rule for Parents Who are Divorced, Separated, or living apart | The dependent can be claimed by the noncustodial parent under the special rule for parents who are divorced, separated, or living apart. |
| Publications |
| Rules | Basic Eligibility Requirements | |
|---|---|---|
| Dependent |
The child claimed does not necessarily have to be claimed as a dependent. An unmarried child may be claimed for EITC if the child:
A married child may be claimed for the EITC if the child is:
See Publication 596, Earned Income Credit, and the Instructions for Form 1040 and Form 1040-SR, U.S. Individual Income Tax Return, for more information. |
|
| SSN Requirement |
The child must have an SSN that is valid for employment and was issued before the due date of the return (including extensions). Note: An SSN issued to a U.S. citizen is valid for employment. |
|
| Relationship |
|
|
| Age |
The child must be:
|
|
| Residency |
In general, a child must have lived with the taxpayer in the United States more than half the tax year (see exceptions below). The United States includes the 50 states, the District of Columbia and U.S. military bases. It does not include United States possessions such as Guam, the Virgin Islands or Puerto Rico. However, under the special rule for parents who are divorced, separated, or living apart, a parent may be eligible to claim a child who did not live with them more than half the tax year for the CTC/ACTC if the parent with whom the child lived more than half the tax year let them claim the child as a dependent. Exceptions:
For more residency information, see:
|
|
| Joint Return |
If your child can file a joint return with another person (for example, their husband or wife), you may not be able to claim them. To be a qualifying child for the EITC, your child must not have filed a joint return with another person (for example, their husband or wife) to claim any credits such as the EITC. Your child can file a joint tax return only to get a tax refund on tax withheld from their paycheck. For more information see: |
|
| Citizenship |
The child must be a U.S. citizen, national or resident. |
|
| Special rule for parents divorced, separated, or living apart |
Only one person may claim a qualifying child. Even if two or more persons have the same qualifying child, only one person can claim the child as a qualifying child for all this benefit. Special rules apply for parents who are divorced, separated, or who are living apart. When two or more persons can claim the same qualifying child, the following tiebreaker rules apply. |
|
| Required Schedules or Forms |
If claiming EITC with a qualifying child: If EITC previously disallowed:
Paid Preparers only: Form 8867, Paid Preparer’s Due Diligence Checklist |
|
| Publications |
| Rules | Basic Eligibility Requirements |
|---|---|
| Dependent |
The child must be claimed as a dependent qualifying child. Note: For a child who is the dependent qualifying child of more than one taxpayer, tie-breaker rules are used to determine which taxpayer can claim the child for the CTC. See the Instructions for Schedule 8812, Credits for Qualifying Children and Other Dependents, and Publication 501, Dependents, Standard Deduction and Filing Information, for more information. |
| SSN Requirement |
The child must have an SSN that is valid for employment and was issued before the due date of the return (including extensions). Note: An SSN issued to a U.S. citizen is valid for employment. |
| Relationship |
The child must be the taxpayer’s: Note: A person who isn't related to the taxpayer in one of these ways may still be eligible to be claimed under the rules for a dependent qualifying relative and for the ODC . See the Instructions for Schedule 8812 for more information about ODC.
|
| Age |
Child must be younger than the taxpayer (or their spouse if filing a joint return) and under the applicable age at the end of the tax year.
|
| Residency |
In general, a child must have lived with the taxpayer more than half the tax year (see exceptions below). Exceptions:
For more residency information, see:
|
| Support |
The child must not provide over half of their own support for the tax year. Note: Under the rules for parents who are divorced, separated, or living apart, for the noncustodial parent to claim the child for the child tax credit, the child must have received over half of their support from one or both parents. |
| Citizenship |
The child must be a U.S. citizen, national or resident. |
| Special Rule for Parents Who are Divorced, Separated, or living apart | A noncustodial parent can claim a child under the special rule for parents divorced, separated, or living apart. |
| Required Schedules or Forms |
If CTC or ODC previously disallowed:
Paid Preparers only: Form 8867, Paid Preparer’s Due Diligence Checklist |
| Rules | Basic Eligibility Requirements |
|---|---|
| Dependent |
The person must be claimed as a dependent on the tax return – either as a qualifying child that does not qualify for Child Tax Credit or Additional Child Tax Credit, or a qualifying relative. |
| SSN Requirement |
The dependent must have an SSN, ITIN or ATIN issued on or before the due date of the return (including extensions). The SSN doesn’t have to be valid for employment. |
| Relationship |
The dependent must be an individual who isn’t related to the taxpayer, or a dependent who is a child, stepchild, foster child or a descendent or any of them or, another qualifying relative such as father/mother (including step), grandparent, aunt/uncle, sister/brother (including half or step), niece/nephew and son/daughter/mother/father-in-law. |
| Age |
Dependent of any age, including those who are age 18 or older. |
| Residency |
In general, the individual must be:
|
| Support |
The dependent must not provide over half of their own support for the tax year. For a dependent claimed as a qualifying relative, the taxpayer must have provided more than half their support during the tax year. |
| Citizenship |
The dependent must be a U.S. citizen, national or resident. |
| Joint Return |
The dependent must not file a joint return or can only file a joint return to claim a refund of income tax withheld or estimated tax paid, and neither the individual nor their spouse has a filing requirement. |
| Required Schedules or Forms |
Paid Preparers only: Form 8867, Paid Preparer’s Due Diligence Checklist |
| Publication |
| Rules | Basic Eligibility Requirements | |
|---|---|---|
| Qualifying Person |
|
|
| SSN Requirement |
|
|
| Age |
The child must be younger than the taxpayer (or their spouse if filing a joint return), and either:
Note: The taxpayer’s spouse not capable of self-care or other person or dependent not capable of self-care who doesn't meet this age rule may still be eligible as a qualifying person for the CDCC. See Publication 503 and the Instructions for Form 2441 for more information. |
|
| Residency |
In general, the child must have lived with the taxpayer for more than half of the tax year. For divorced or separated parents or parents living apart, a child must have been in the custody of one or both parents for more than half the tax year and the taxpayer must be the custodial parent. Exceptions:
Note: The taxpayer’s spouse or other person or dependent not capable of self-care who is claimed for the CDCC must have lived with the taxpayer more than half the tax year. See Publication 503 and the Instructions for Form 2441 for more information. |
|
| Support |
In general, a child must not provide over half of their own support for the tax year. For parents who are divorced, separated, or living apart:
Note: A person who doesn't meet this support test, such as the taxpayer’s spouse not capable of self-care or other person or dependent not capable of self-care, may still be eligible as a qualifying person for the CDCC. See Publication 503 and the Instructions for Form 2441 for more information. |
|
| Citizenship |
The child must be:
|
|
| Special rule for parents divorced, separated, or living apart |
A noncustodial parent cannot claim this credit under the special rule for parents who are divorced, separated, or living apart. |
|
| Required Schedules or Forms |
|
|
| Publications |
| Rules | Basic Eligibility Requirements |
|---|---|
| Student |
May be the taxpayer, taxpayer’s spouse or dependent listed on their return. |
| SSN Requirement |
Must have a valid SSN, ITIN or ATIN issued or applied for on or before the due date of the return. |
| Eligible Student |
Must:
Note: The student cannot have also claimed the Lifetime Learning Credit on the same tax return. |
| Academic Period |
Can be semesters, trimesters, quarters, or any other period of study such as a summer school session. The schools determine the academic periods. For schools that use clock or credit hours and do not have academic terms, the payment period may be treated as an academic period. |
| Form 1098-T |
The student must have received a Form 1098-T Tuition Statement from their school by January 31. |
| Qualified Education Expenses |
Must be paid by cash, check, credit, or debit card, or paid with money from a loan and paid by:
Must be amounts paid for tuition, fees and other related expense for an eligible student required for enrollment or attendance at an eligible educational institute. These can include student activity fees required to enroll or attend the school. Expenses cannot have been paid with tax-free grants, scholarships and fellowships and other tax-free education help. |
| Expenses that Do Not Qualify |
|
| Required Schedules or Forms |
If AOTC was previously disallowed use |
| Publications | Publication 970, Tax Benefits for Education |
| Rules | Basic Eligibility Requirements |
|---|---|
| Marriage Test |
The taxpayer must be one of the following
|
| Qualifying Person Test |
The dependent must be the taxpayer’s:
And
Residency Exceptions:
A dependent parent who doesn't live with the taxpayer may qualify them to claim HOH filing status under the rules for a dependent qualifying relative. See Publication 501 for more information. |
| Cost of Keeping Up a Home |
The taxpayer must:
If claiming Head of Household filing status for dependent parents, the taxpayer must pay more than half the cost of keeping up a home that was the parents main home for the entire year. |
| Required Schedules or Forms |
Paid Preparers only: Form 8867, Paid Preparer’s Due Diligence Checklist |
| Publications |
1Student
To qualify as a student during some part of any 5 calendar months of the year (the 5 calendar months don't have to be consecutive); a child must be:
- A full-time student at a school that has a regular teaching staff, course of study, and a regularly enrolled student body at the school, or
- A student taking a full-time, on-farm training course given by a school described above, or by a state, county or local government agency.
Full-time student. A full-time student is a student who is enrolled for the number of hours or courses the school considers to be full-time attendance.
School defined. A school can be an elementary school, junior or senior high school, college, university, or technical, trade, or mechanical school. But an on-the-job training course, correspondence school, or school offering courses only through the Internet doesn't count as a school.
Vocational high school students. Students who work on “co-op” jobs in private industry as a part of a school's regular course of classroom and practical training are considered full-time students.
2Permanently and totally disabled
A child is permanently and totally disabled if both of the following apply:
- The child cannot engage in any substantial gainful activity because of a physical or mental condition and
- A doctor or government agency determines the condition has lasted or can be expected to last continuously for at least 12 months or can be expected to result in death.
3Adopted child
An adopted child is always treated as the taxpayer’s own child. This term includes a child who is lawfully placed with the taxpayer for legal adoption.
4Foster child
A foster child is a child placed with the taxpayer by an authorized placement agency or by judgment, decree, or other order of any court of competent jurisdiction. An authorized placement agency includes a state, the District of Columbia, a possession of the United States, a foreign country, an Indian tribal government, or an agency or organization that is authorized by a state, the District of Columbia, a possession of the United States, a foreign country, an Indian Tribal Government, or a political subdivision of any of these to place children in foster care.