Ed Zollars, CPA wrote:

- quote -

I thought we only referred to our "beloved" constitutional
officers as "congresscritters" in the unmoderated group
where "anything goes...?" ;-)

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- quote -

I think you are confused (at least I would hope so, Block
knows much better). You cannot get the child tax credit for
children over the age of 17, however, you can still claim
the child. If your youngest turned 17 in 2003, you should
have gotten the tax credit for him in 2002 (assuming income
phase-outs were not met).

Helen, EA in PA
Member of The Tax Gang
President, PA Society of Enrolled Agents
Campaigning for NAEA Board of Directors - Looking for YOUR vote

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Juan wrote:

- quote -

For a child to qualify the taxpayer for the child tax
credit, the child must be UNDER the age of 17 at the end of
the tax year. Based on the facts given, all of your
children are too old to qualify you for the child tax credit
in 2003.

Lois

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"Juan" <Miller1236[at]comcast.com> wrote:

- quote -

You probably could have claimed them as dependents. You need
to see someone in your area other than H & R Block for such
matters as these. I would suggest you try to find an
enrolled agent (EA) or CPA to help you with this. Either of
these could save you much more money than they will cost
you, if you find the right ones. Not all CPA's charge
gigantic fees for tax services.

Wayne Brasch, CPA, M. S. Taxation

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Juan wrote:

- quote -

I'm confused. You should still be able to claim them
as dependents, but the child tax credit is only allwed
for children under 17.

--
This account is subject to a persistent MS Blaster and SWEN
attack. I think I've got the problem resolved, but, if you
E-mail me and it bounces, a second try might work. However,
please reply in newsgroup.

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Juan wrote:

- quote -

Are you confusing the child tax credit with the deduction
for exemptions?

Look on page two of the 1040, about the fourth line down;
should be labeled "Exemptions". What figure appears on it?

BTW, the child tax credit is not applicable to any child
older than 17, and that includes the year in which the child
becomes 17.

cheer$,
Harlan Lunsford, EA in LA

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Juan wrote:

- quote -

They can still be dependents, but the credit only goes up to
age 16 inclusive. A child 17 or over does not lead to the
credit.

- quote -

The credit and the dependency exemption are two separate
things. You appear entitled only to the latter. If you got
neither, then your tax return may have been done
incorrectly. Also note: There are two types of education
credits that you might be entitled to that you didn't
mention having on your return.

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Juan wrote:

- quote -

We need to watch the facts here. Did H & R Block truly
remove them as dependents? Or, rather, did they simply not
claim the child credit on them?

If the former, you may have an issue here since, if you paid
over one half of their support you likely could claim them
as a dependent (subject to the phase out of the dependency
exemption).

However, even if they are a dependent, that *doesn't* mean
they will qualify for the child credit. That does cut off
at age 17, period.

Why? Because that is what Congress did when they passed the
credit initially, and they've never changed it. If you have
a problem with that, I suggest you call your
Congress-critters (Representative and both Senators) and
complain to them because they are the ones who have to
change it.

So even if Block "fouled up" and removed the dependency
exemption when they shouldn't have, fixing that wouldn't get
you a child credit.

--
Ed Zollars, CPA
Phoenix, Arizona

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"Juan" <Miller1236[at]comcast.com> writes:

- quote -

I think you're confusing dependents with the child tax
credit. There are different rules. The child tax credit
applies only to childrent who are under 17 at the end of the
tax year. Thus, only your youngest qualified in 2002, and
none qualifies in 2003.

As for dependency, it's not impossible, but it's highly
unlikely that a 17 year old living with his still married
parents wouldn't qualify as a dependent. Double check your
returns after looking at the dependency tests in IRS
Publication 501.

Phil Marti
Topeka, KS

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"Juan" <Miller1236[at]comcast.com> wrote:

- quote -

I think you are confused about the child dependency
exemption and the Child Tax Credit. There are five tests you
must pass to claim ANYONE as your dependent, including
providing more than 50% of their support. In addition, if
they are under age 19, or a full time student under age 24,
they can earn more than $3,050 in the year. See IRS Pub 501
for all the tests and explanations of each.

The Child Tax Credit requires that the child be your
dependent, and be under age 17 at the end of this year. If
they turn 17 in 2003, they do not qualify for the Credit.

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"Juan" <Miller1236[at]comcast.com> writes:

- quote -

You may claim them as exemptions until age 24 as long as
they are full time students and you provide more than 1/2
their support. The year in which you child/ren turn 17 is
when you lose the child tax credit. I would guess you are
still claiming the children but that you are no longer
elibible for the child tax credit.

"Jack" - John H. Fisher - TaxService[at]aol.com
Philadelphia, Pa - Atlantic City, NJ - West Wildwood, NJ
My Newsgroups & Boards at: http://members.aol.com/TaxService/index.html

Where Ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise!=

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Juan <Miller1236[at]comcast.com> wrote:

- quote -

There are two separate issues:

One is being able to claim the children as your personal
exemptions. If they qualify as your personal exemptions,
by all means, claim them on Form 1040 Line 6.

The second issue is the child tax credit. A child who has
reached age 17 by December 31 is no longer eligible for the
child tax credit.

__
Art Kamlet ArtKamlet [at] AOL.com Columbus OH K2PZH

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We have 4 children ages 20 - 17. H& R Block has not allowed
us to claim our children as dependent once they turned 17.
So now we are not getting any Child tax credit since they
didn't allow us to claim any of them this year. Which
doesn't make sense since our youngest just turned 17 this
year. At this time 3 of our children are full time
students, Aren't we allowed to claim them ? Can we be
reimbursed? Please inform.

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