Earned Income Credit - Couple Living Together?

[zeros]

How does that work when two live together and EIC is involved for children? Does the one with the higher income take it?

[MDEA]

eic couple living togeather

First the parent of the child claims the child. If both are parents either one can claim the child if they pay more than half the cost of the child's costs.

[Gary2]

First the parent of the child claims the child. If both are parents either one can claim the child if they pay more than half the cost of the child's costs.

They don't have to pay any of the child's costs, as long as the child isn't self-supporting. The QC support test is not the same as the QR support test.

[zeros]

Both Incomes Figured in the Income Calculation?

They don't have to pay any of the child's costs, as long as the child isn't self-supporting. The QC support test is not the same as the QR support test.

Are both incomes calculated in the income figure?

[David1980]

Are both incomes calculated in the income figure?

Well, neither... If grandma supports the kid 100% both father & mother can still claim the kid. Qualifying child rules like Gary2 indicated don't require any support be provided by the person claiming the child. Just, the child can't provide over half their own support. So neither father nor mother's income matters. Nor does child's income, for that matter, since support provided isn't the same thing as income. A college student can easily provide more than half their own support through student loans even though their income might be $0.

[mastertaxguy]

Single parent situations

How does that work when two live together and EIC is involved for children? Does the one with the higher income take it?

1. TTB, Pp. 3-18/3-19 has a number of 'single parent' situations for 2013 one of which seems to be exactly what this post is about.
2. Some versions of TTB have a "FastTAXFacts" pull out which also deals with this scenario and includes a decision tree.