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children of divorced or separated parents (or parents who live apart) doesn't apply. You and your spouse will file separate re- turns. Your spouse agrees to let you treat your child as a qualifying child. This means, if your spouse doesn't claim your child as a qualifying child, you can claim this child as a qualifying child for the child tax credit and the exclusion for dependent care benefits (assuming you oth- erwise qualify for both tax benefits). However, you can't claim head of household filing status because you and your spouse didn't live apart for the last 6 months of the year. As a result, your filing status is married filing separately. You can't claim the earned income credit be- cause you don't meet the requirements for cer- tain separated spouses to claim the earned in- come credit when they don’t file a joint return. You and your spouse didn't live apart for the last 6 months of 2022 and while you did live apart at the end of 2022, you aren't legally sep- arated under a written separation agreement or decree of separate maintenance. Therefore, you don't meet the requirements to take the earned income credit as a separated spouse who is not filing a joint return. You also can't take the credit for child and dependent care ex- penses because your fling status is married fil- ing separately and you and your spouse didn't live apart for the last 6 months of 2022. Example 7—separated parents claim same child. The facts are the same as in Ex- ample 6, except you and your spouse both claim your child as a qualifying child. In this case, only your spouse will be allowed to treat your child as a qualifying child. This is because, during 2022, the child lived with your spouse longer than with you. If you claimed the child tax credit for your child, the IRS will disallow your claim to the child tax credit. If you don't have another qualifying child or dependent, the IRS will also disallow your claim to the exclusion for dependent care benefits. In addition, because you and your spouse didn't live apart for the last 6 months of the year, your spouse can't claim head of household filing status. As a result, your spouse’s filing status is married filing sepa- rately. Your spouse can't claim the earned in- come credit because your spouse doesn't meet the requirements to claim the earned income credit for certain separated spouses. You and your spouse didn’t live apart for the last 6 months of 2022 and, while you did live apart at the end of 2022, you aren't legally separated under a written separation agreement or decree of separate maintenance. Therefore, your spouse doesn’t meet the requirements to take the earned income credit as a separated spouse who isn’t filing a joint return. Your spouse also can't take the credit for child and dependent care expenses because your spou- se’s filing status is married filing separately and you and your spouse didn't live apart for the last 6 months of 2022. Example 8—unmarried parents. You, your 5-year-old child, L, and L’s other parent lived together in the United States all year. You and L’s other parent aren't married. L is a quali- fying child of both you and L’s other parent be- cause L meets the relationship, age, residency, support, and joint return tests for both you and L’s other parent. Your AGI is $12,000 and L’s other parent's AGI is $14,000. L’s other parent agrees to let you claim the child as a qualifying child. This means you can claim L as a qualify- ing child for the child tax credit, head of house- hold filing status, the credit for child and de- pendent care expenses, the exclusion for dependent care benefits, and the earned in- come credit, if you qualify for each of those tax benefits (and if L’s other parent doesn't claim L as a qualifying child for any of those tax bene- fits). Example 9—unmarried parents claim same child. The facts are the same as in Ex- ample 8, except you and L’s other parent both claim L as a qualifying child. In this case, only L’s other parent will be allowed to treat L as a qualifying child. This is because L’s other pa- rent’s AGI, $14,000, is more than your AGI, $12,000. If you claimed the child tax credit for L, the IRS will disallow your claim to this credit. If you don't have another qualifying child or de- pendent, the IRS will also disallow your claim to head of household filing status, the credit for child and dependent care expenses, and the exclusion for dependent care benefits. How- ever, you may be able to claim the earned in- come credit as a taxpayer without a qualifying child. Example 10—child didn't live with a pa- rent. You and your sibling’s child, M, lived with your parent all year. You are 25 years old, and your AGI is $9,300. Your parent’s AGI is $15,000. M’s parents file jointly, have an AGI of less than $9,000, and don't live with you or M. M is a qualifying child of both you and your pa- rent because M meets the relationship, age, residency, support, and joint return tests for both you and your parent. However, only your parent can treat M as a qualifying child. This is because your parent's AGI, $15,000, is more than your AGI, $9,300. Applying the tiebreaker rules to divorced or separated parents (or parents who live apart). If a child is treated as the qualifying child of the noncustodial parent under the rules described earlier for children of divorced or sep- arated parents (or parents who live apart), only the noncustodial parent can claim the child as a dependent and claim the child tax credit, addi- tional child tax credit, or credit for other depend- ents for the child. However, only the custodial parent can claim the credit for child and de- pendent care expenses or the exclusion for de- pendent care benefits for the child. Also, gener- ally, the noncustodial parent can't claim the child as a qualifying child for head of household filing status or the earned income credit. In- stead, generally, the custodial parent, if eligible, or other eligible person can claim the child as a qualifying child for those two benefits. If the child is the qualifying child of more than one person for these benefits, then the tiebreaker rules determine whether the custodial parent or another eligible person can treat the child as a qualifying child. The noncustodial parent may be able to claim the self-only earned income credit if they meet other requirements. See Pub. 596 and Schedule EIC and its instruc- tions for more information. TIP Example 1. You and your 5-year-old child, E, lived all year with your parent in the United States. Your parent paid the entire cost of keep- ing up the home. Your AGI is $10,000. Your pa- rent's AGI is $25,000. E’s other parent lived in the United States all year, but didn't live with you or E. Under the rules explained earlier for children of divorced or separated parents (or parents who live apart), E is treated as the qualifying child of E’s other parent, who can claim the child tax credit for E. Because of this, you can't claim the child tax credit for E. However, those rules don't allow E’s other parent to claim E as a qualifying child for head of household filing sta- tus, the credit for child and dependent care ex- penses, the exclusion for dependent care bene- fits, or the earned income credit. You and your parent didn't have any child- care expenses or dependent care benefits, so neither of you can claim the credit for child and dependent care expenses or the exclusion for dependent care benefits. But E is a qualifying child of both you and your parent for head of household filing status and the earned income credit because E meets the relationship, age, residency, support, and joint return tests for both you and your parent. (The support test doesn't apply for the earned income credit.) However, you agree to let your parent claim E. This means your parent can claim E for head of household filing status and the earned income credit if your parent qualifies for each and if you don't claim E as a qualifying child for the earned income credit. (You can't claim head of house- hold filing status because your parent paid the entire cost of keeping up the home.) You may be able to claim the earned income credit as a taxpayer without a qualifying child. Example 2. The facts are the same as in Example 1, except your AGI is $25,000 and your parent's AGI is $21,000. Your parent can't claim E as a qualifying child for any purpose be- cause your parent’s AGI isn't higher than yours. Example 3. The facts are the same as in Example 1, except you and your parent both claim E as a qualifying child for the earned in- come credit. Your parent also claims E as a qualifying child for head of household filing sta- tus. You, as the child's parent, will be the only one allowed to claim E as a qualifying child for the earned income credit. The IRS will disallow your parent's claim to head of household filing status unless your parent has another qualifying child or dependent. Your parent can’t claim the earned income credit as a taxpayer without a qualifying child because your parent’s AGI is more than $16,480. Qualifying Relative Four tests must be met for a person to be your qualifying relative. The four tests are: 1. Not a qualifying child test, 2. Member of household or relationship test, 3. Gross income test, and 4. Support test. Publication 501 (2022) Page 17