EITC and qualifying child

[taxmandan]

I need ideas on how to substantiate that a pre-school child qualifies as a dependent for EITC. The kid and her mom lived with taxpayer for the past 2 1/2 years and taxpayer is the only support in the household, with no school record, etc. that ties the kid to taxpayer's household. Anyone have success with this issue when challenged by the IRS? The kid is not on the lease or taxpayers' insurance, doesn't go to church or have other 3rd party records to submit. And no, taxpayer's not ready to tie the knot just yet either.

[Uncle]

If desperate:

When this situation comes up in my practice, I a) charge my full and normal price for such a return ($400 - $800), b) demand letters from the neighbors, the child's doctor, anyone I can think of, and c) pull my camera out of my desk drawer and tell the TP we are going to their home RIGHT NOW to take pictures of the kid's bedroom and the kid's toys. If the TP suddenly decides they are "too busy", or they have to go "somewhere else" right now, they get the boot. If they cooperate, and I get the letters and the photos, I am reasonably confident I have sufficient proof. I have had only one TP decide to do a quick exit. Every other TP has come up with letters, invoices, statements, etc.

[origun]

Relationship?

I don't see anything in the original post that says that the child is related to the taxpayer. If child is girlfriend's child and not his, there is no question...child cannot be qualifying dependent which would be required for EITC. If relationship requirement is not satisfied, perhaps child is qualifying relative and can be a dependent but that wouldn't result in EITC

[David1980]

Agree with origun, the relationship could rule this out all together. Are we talking about unmarried father and mother living together or mother and unrelated to child boyfriend? If this is an unrelated to child boyfriend we can stop there, it's not a qualifying child.

If this is mother and father the question on residency is usually "Does the child really live with the father and not the mother?" How about documentation showing that father and mother lived together at the father's address? It's still possible the child lived with grandmother or aunt or whatever - the question is do you care about that possibility?

"If a reasonable and well-informed tax return preparer knowledgeable in the law would conclude that any information the taxpayer has given you appears to be incorrect, incomplete, or inconsistent with the taxpayer's eligibility to claim the EIC, you must ask the taxpayer reasonable questions to get information that is correct, consistent, and complete."

To be honest, would we even question the residency if it were the unmarried mother claiming the child? Should we suspect the child being claimed by a father? Obviously if you have some reason to suspect the information is incorrect, incomplete, or inconsistent it makes sense to question it and there may be more than is in the forum post that does that.