Form 1040 - No. of children

[appelman]

This is a point that has always perplexed me and has led to heated discussions with colleagues. In the summary lines at the right of Form 1040, line 6, it refers to "No. of children." Does this mean only your own children and stepchildren? Does it mean any dependent who is a minor? Or does it mean qualifying children as defined in the regs? Specifically, what about a grandchild, an unrelated minor whom you support and who lives with you all year, or an adult brother who is totally and permanently disabled?

[BP.]

Bottom of TTB p.3-1 gives some insight. You can play with some scenarios in your tax program to get your answer. I just checked one where the tp had dependents parent & sister. Children was "zero." Dependents was "two."

[dtlee]

I have also posted this question various places without getting a convincing response and have come to believe that the IRS interprets "children" to mean "qualifying children" though I have found no guidance to suggest this.

The main reason I have started to believe this is that they more than once tried to give an EIC to a taxpayer who claimed a deadbeat son as a dependent (not disabled, not a student, not a minor, just a bit lazy). They sent the taxpayer a notice that they should consider claiming the EIC with their "child" so that they could get tons of money. When I checked "other dependent" they did not contact the client (obviously not a very scientific test).

I, too, would like to hear what others think on this.

[Bees Knees]

Agree with BP

There are three categories of dependents to list on line 6c:

1) Children (of the taxpayer) on 6c claimed as a dependent who lived with the taxpayer,

2) Children (of the taxpayer) on 6c claimed as a dependent who did not live with the taxpayer due to divorce or separation.

3) Individual claimed as a dependent on line 6c who is not the taxpayer's child.

Any person, whether it is the taxpayer's child or not, that is NOT claimed as a dependent should not be listed on line 6c.

Note: Form 1040 says nothing about qualifying child, because it is possible that a taxpayer's qualifying child is not claimed as a dependent of the taxpayer, and thus should not be listed on line 6c. Likewise, it is possible that the taxpayer's child is not a qualifying child, yet is still claimed as a dependent on line 6c (due to the qualifying relative rules).

Thus, line 6c does NOT ask for the number of qualifying children because that information would be irrelevant.

[appelman]

I find dtlee's experience enlightening.

It appears that the IRS is using that info for preliminary EIC screening, in which case "qualifying children" may be the most practical interpretation. I know it doesn't SAY "qualifying children," but it also doesn't say "YOUR children." Ultimately, it may boil down to deciding which interpretation will minimize confusion.

[dtlee]

Another curiosity worth noting is the wording on the form. As Bees pointed out the two categories of "child" are child who lived with you and "child who did not live with you due to divorce or separation."

A child must live with you more than half the year to be a Qualifying Child. Coincidentally, there is only one Qualifying Child who does not need to live with you and that is a child who is your Qualifying Child due to the Rules for Children of Divorced or Separated Parents.

However, a child does not need always need to live with you to be a dependent, even if you are not subject to the rules for divorced/separated parents. These are included under "other dependents." Interestingly, these are Qualifying Relatives.

[Bees Knees]

Again, qualifying child is irrelevant for line 6c, because a child can still be your dependent but not a qualifying child. Line 6c only cares about dependent rules and child tax credit rules. It does not care about EIC, dependent care benefits, or head of household rules.

The reason why it asks you to separate dependents into those three categories is for audit purposes. For example, if you try to claim a non-child as a dependent and have very little income, IRS might want to know how you can provide over 50% support for someone else when you can barely support yourself. Likewise, if you claim a child as a dependent that does not live with you, you better have a release form from the custodial parent attached to the return.

[dtlee]

Line 6c only cares about dependent rules and child tax credit rules. It does not care about EIC, dependent care benefits, or head of household rules.

I actually take the position that there are five "uniform definitions of a child" and was only discussing Dependents since that is the line we are discussing. I am stating that I believe that the rules for Line 6c are for Qualifying Child dependents versus Qualifying Relative dependents since the heading and instructions only ask for a listing of dependents on this line.

[dtlee]

The reason why it asks you to separate dependents into those three categories is for audit purposes. For example, if you try to claim a non-child as a dependent and have very little income, IRS might want to know how you can provide over 50% support for someone else when you can barely support yourself. Likewise, if you claim a child as a dependent that does not live with you, you better have a release form from the custodial parent attached to the return.

From an audit perspective, the IRS cares about 50% support for any Qualifying Relative Dependent, regardless of whether the Qualifying Relative Dependent is or is not your child.

Hence, if I accept your explanation that this is for audit purposes, I would suggest even stronger that we would list any child who is a Qualifying Relative Dependent on the line for "Dependents on 6c not entered above" as opposed to either of the two lines for "children."

[dtlee]

It appears that the IRS is using that info for preliminary EIC screening, in which case "qualifying children" may be the most practical interpretation. I know it doesn't SAY "qualifying children," but it also doesn't say "YOUR children." Ultimately, it may boil down to deciding which interpretation will minimize confusion.

The point of the reference to the EIC notices was due to the fact that for children who are U.S. citizens or residents residing within the United States and having a Social Security Number, the EIC definition of a Qualifying Child is a superset of the definition of a Qualifying Child dependent. Hence for the taxpayers I saw this on, their lazy bum dependent would have been a Qualifying Child for the EIC definition if they were already a Qualifying Child for dependency purposes.

These "lazy bum dependents" are Qualifying Relatives who in one case, by virtue of them living with an unmarried parent all year, made that parent eligible for Head of Household as well. The other taxpayers were married and filing jointly. I see no way to distinguish between a Qualifying Child older dependent (who may be disabled) and a child who is a Qualifying Relative than by use of those lines (and by extension, the relationship box on line 6c).

Like I said, I have found no guidance to suport my belief that the first two counts on 6c are for the two flavors of Qualifying Children and the third is for Qualifying Relatives.