Over half of the year?

[Harvey Lucas]

What does it mean, in the tax code, when it says "over half of the year"?

Does it mean 6 months and 1 day?

Or does it mean 182 days, 12 hours and 1 second?

My client, his wife, and 2 small children, arrived in the USA, in New York Airport, on July 1st, 2007 at 6:30pm.

I counted the days from January thru June 30th, I get 181 days.

So then, 365 minus 181, means he and his family "lived" in the USA for 184 days of 2007.

That sounds like "over half the year" to me.

They all have Social Security cards.

He earned $10,200 on a w2 wage job.

If he and his family were in the US "over half the year" they get $4090 of earned income credit.

If they were not in the US for "over half the year", they get zero earned income.

Harvey Lucas

[travis bickle]

over half of the [non-leap] year means

365 / 2 = 182.5; so over half of the [non-leap] year means 183 days.

this pub, http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p596.pdf , is a good one to access as it spells out all the "rules of the road" for the eitc, and gives a number of good examples that may help you [depending on your client base].

hope this helps.

[Brian EA]

So then, 365 minus 181, means he and his family "lived" in the USA for 184 days of 2007.

That sounds like "over half the year" to me.

If he and his family were in the US "over half the year" they get $4090 of earned income credit.

Harvey Lucas[/QUOTE]

You better recheck that. In order to qualify for the EIC you will have to be a citizen or resident alien for the entire year

brian

[travis bickle]

yes, and

Harvey Lucas

You better recheck that. In order to qualify for the EIC you will have to be a citizen or resident alien for the entire year

brian[/QUOTE]

in my first answer, i refered the op to the irs pub that spells out ALL the rules for eitc -- not just the one concerning amount of time in the u.s.

[Harvey Lucas]

It pays to double check your software!

Thank you Brian and Travis.

After your reply I checked my TaxBook and of course there it was, clear as day, "taxpayer must be a U.S. citizen or resident alien for the ENTIRE year" in order for the EIC to apply.

Initially, when I was trying to determine if the EIC applied or not, I relied soley on my Tax Software, I checked the box on the 8867 questionaire indicating that the taxpayer WAS a nonresident alien for part of the year, and, unfortuneatly, the software allowed the EIC credit.

Just goes to show you, as we all have probably experienced many times, you can't rely 100% carte blanche on your software!

Thanks for the heads up.

Harvey Lucas