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received Temporary Assistance to Needy Fami- lies (TANF) payments or other similar payments and used the payment to support another per- son, those payments are considered support you provided for that person, rather than sup- port provided by the government or other third party. Joint Return Test (To Be a Qualifying Child) To meet this test, the child can't file a joint re- turn for the year. Exception. An exception to the joint return test applies if your child and the child’s spouse file a joint return only to claim a refund of income tax withheld or estimated tax paid. Example 1—child files joint return. You supported your 18-year-old child who lived with you all year while the child’s spouse was in the Armed Forces. Your child’s spouse earned $35,000 for the year. The couple files a joint re- turn so this child isn't your qualifying child. Example 2—child files joint return only as claim for refund of withheld tax. Your 18-year-old child and your child’s 17-year-old spouse had $800 of wages from part-time jobs and no other income. They lived with you all year. Neither is required to file a tax return. They don't have a child. Taxes were taken out of their pay, so they file a joint return only to get a refund of the withheld taxes. The exception to the joint return test applies, so this child may be your qualifying child if all the other tests are met. Example 3—child files joint return to claim American opportunity credit. The facts are the same as in Example 2, except no taxes were taken out of either spouse's pay. However, they file a joint return to claim an American opportunity credit of $124 and get a refund of that amount. Because claiming the American opportunity credit is their reason for filing the return, they aren't filing it only to get a refund of income tax withheld or estimated tax paid. The exception to the joint return test doesn't apply, so this child isn't your qualifying child. Qualifying Child of More Than One Person If your qualifying child isn't a qualifying child of anyone else, this topic doesn't apply to you and you don't need to read about it. This is also true if your qualifying child isn't a qualifying child of anyone else ex- cept your spouse with whom you plan to file a joint return. If a child is treated as the qualifying child of the noncustodial parent under the rules for children of divorced or separated parents (or parents who live apart), described earlier, see Applying the tiebreaker rules to divorced or separated parents (or pa- rents who live apart), later. Sometimes, a child meets the relationship, age, residency, support, and joint return tests to TIP CAUTION ! be a qualifying child of more than one person. Although the child is a qualifying child of each of these persons, generally only one person can actually treat the child as a qualifying child to take all of the following tax benefits (provided the person is eligible for each benefit). 1. The child tax credit, credit for other de- pendents, or additional child tax credit. 2. Head of household filing status. 3. The credit for child and dependent care expenses. 4. The exclusion from income for dependent care benefits. 5. The earned income credit. The other person can’t take any of these benefits based on this qualifying child. In other words, you and the other person can’t agree to divide these tax benefits between you. Tiebreaker rules. To determine which person can treat the child as a qualifying child to claim these five tax benefits, the following tiebreaker rules apply. For purposes of these tiebreaker rules, the term “parent” means a biological or adoptive parent of an individual. It does not in- clude a stepparent or foster parent unless that person has adopted the individual. • If only one of the persons is the child's pa- rent, the child is treated as the qualifying child of the parent. • If the parents file a joint return together and can claim the child as a qualifying child, the child is treated as the qualifying child of the parents. • If the parents don't file a joint return to- gether but both parents claim the child as a qualifying child, the IRS will treat the child as the qualifying child of the parent with whom the child lived for the longer period of time during the year. If the child lived with each parent for the same amount of time, the IRS will treat the child as the qual- ifying child of the parent who had the higher AGI for the year. • If no parent can claim the child as a quali- fying child, the child is treated as the quali- fying child of the person who had the high- est AGI for the year. • If a parent can claim the child as a qualify- ing child but no parent does so claim the child, the child is treated as the qualifying child of the person who had the highest AGI for the year, but only if that person's AGI is higher than the highest AGI of any of the child's parents who can claim the child. Subject to these tiebreaker rules, you and the other person may be able to choose which of you claims the child as a qualifying child. You may be able to qualify for the earned income credit under the rules for taxpayers without a qualifying child if you have a qualifying child for the earned in- come credit who is claimed as a qualifying child by another taxpayer. For more information, see Pub. 596. Example 1—child lived with parent and grandparent. You and your 3-year-old child J lived with your parent all year. You are 25 years TIP old and unmarried, and your AGI is $9,000. Your parent's AGI is $15,000. Your child’s other parent didn't live with you or your child. You haven't signed Form 8832 (or a similar state- ment). J is a qualifying child of both you and your parent because J meets the relationship, age, residency, support, and joint return tests for both you and your parent. However, only one of you can claim J. J isn't a qualifying child of any- one else, including J’s other parent. You agree to let your parent claim J. This means your pa- rent can claim J as a qualifying child for all of the five tax benefits listed earlier, if your parent qualifies for each of those benefits (and if you don't claim J as a qualifying child for any of those tax benefits). Example 2—parent has higher AGI than grandparent. The facts are the same as in Ex- ample 1, except your AGI is $18,000. Because your parent's AGI isn't higher than yours, your parent can't claim J. Only you can claim J. Example 3—two persons claim same child. The facts are the same as in Example 1, except you and your parent both claim J as a qualifying child. In this case, you, as the child's parent, will be the only one allowed to claim J as a qualifying child. The IRS will disallow your parent's claim to the five tax benefits listed ear- lier based on J. However, your parent may qual- ify for the earned income credit as a taxpayer without a qualifying child. Example 4—qualifying children split be- tween two persons. The facts are the same as in Example 1, except you also have two other young children who are qualifying children of both you and your parent. Only one of you can claim each child. However, if your parent's AGI is higher than yours, you can allow your pa- rent to claim one or more of the children. For example, if you claim one child, your parent can claim the other two. Example 5—taxpayer who is a qualifying child. The facts are the same as in Example 1, except you are only 18 years old and didn't pro- vide more than half of your own support for the year. This means you are your parent's qualify- ing child. If your parent can claim you as a de- pendent, then you can't claim your child as a dependent because of the Dependent Tax- payer Test, explained earlier, unless your pa- rent files a return only to claim a refund of in- come tax withheld or estimated tax paid. Example 6—separated parents. You, your spouse, and your 10-year-old child all lived in the United States for all of 2022. On August 1, 2022, your spouse moved out of the house- hold. In August and September, your child lived with you. For the rest of the year, your child lived with your spouse, the child's parent. Your child is a qualifying child of both you and your spouse because your child lived with each of you for more than half the year and because your child met the relationship, age, support, and joint return tests for both of you. At the end of the year, you and your spouse still weren't di- vorced, legally separated, or separated under a written separation agreement, so the rule for Publication 501 (2022) Page 15