Can anyone explain error details

[norm9838]

What is the name of your state? Indiana My stepdaughter filed her taxes this year and got a message from the irs that they found a mistake on them.

She filed single, claimed her two children as deductions and also for the earned income credit. She owed 315.00 in taxes and with what she made got 890.00 in earned income credit. So after subtracting the tax she owed she should of been getting back 575.00 as a refund.

We went in to check her status online and they are saying that there was a mathimatical error and that they are not allowing the eic.

This was the mistake they said was made. It said either you or your spouse must be at least 25 but under 65 years old at the end of the tax. If neither you or your spouse meet the age test, you cannot claim the earned income credit.

Then below it gave references to related information.

Publication 596, chapter 3 Rules if you do not have a qualifying child. Rule 11, you must be at least age 25 but under age 65. (how can she not have qualifying children, she has two?)


Number 1: she filed single, she is not married.
Number 2: she had two dependents and they both qualify.
Number 3: yes she is only 20 but she lives on her own in a small apartment with her two children.

I just can not figure this out and I told her that we need to contact the irs and see what the heck is going on.

I am wondering if the piece of crap that she had her kids with did not claim them on his taxes which in turn would of made them her qualifying children only and then she would of had to have been 25.

We did the eic qualification test on her and it said she should get the eic because the kids lived with her all year long and they were her dependents. They also met the 3 requirements concerning dependents.

If he did claim them what will she have to do to get things corrected. He just started paying support in Jan of this year, garnished out of his check. I just found out a couple days ago that he quit that job so there will be nothing more on his end for awhile to come.

She had a paternity test done in Nov of last year and they went into court in Dec and the court said that the youngest was his. He actually claimed the older child as his and gave her his name when she was born but she will be 3 and he had help support her 3 months almost out of 3 years. They also now have papers at the court that state his support amount, his garnishment, and that she has full custody with the right to claim both kids on her taxes and that he has standard visitation.

So since this has to do with last years taxes she is not sure what she has to prove. Would a statement from the support office do since he had no legal rights of too much of anything before Jan of this year?

[LdiJ]

She really needs to take that letter to a tax professional. This is odd to say the least.

Certainly it sounds as though the IRS is not recognizing her dependents and is stating that she is not eligible for EIC as a single person because she is not yet 25.

However, this isn't the way the IRS normally handles things and isn't the way that they have been handling things so far this year.

If she filed a paper return, its possible that the IRS has made an actual mistake. (ie, her dependents not getting entered into the system. Paper returns are manually entered by human beings) If she filed an electronic return (and it was accepted), then its possible that they are not referring to the 2005 tax year but to 2004.....look at the letter carefully, it will tell you the tax year to which it refers.

The action that needs to be taken at this point depends on what tax year is involved, and whether or not she filed a paper return.