Release of certain tax benefits revoked.

A custodial parent who has revoked their previous release of a claim to certain tax benefits for a child must include a copy of the revocation with their return. For details, see Form 8332.

Exception to citizen test.

If you are a U.S. citizen or U.S. national and your adopted child lived with you all year as a member of your household, that child meets the requirement to be a U.S. citizen in Step 2, question 1; Step 3, question 2; Step 4, question 2; and Step 5, question 3.

Exception to gross income test.

If your relative (including a person who lived with you all year as a member of your household) is permanently and totally disabled (defined later), certain income for services performed at a sheltered workshop may be excluded for this test. For details, see Pub. 501.

Exception to time lived with you.

Temporary absences by you or the other person for special circumstances, such as school, vacation, business, medical care, military service, or detention in a juvenile facility, count as time the person lived with you. Also see Children of divorced or separated parents , earlier, or Kidnapped child , later.

If the person meets all other requirements to be your qualifying child but was born or died in 2025, the person is considered to have lived with you for more than half of 2025 if your home was this person’s home for more than half the time the person was alive in 2025. If the person meets all other requirements to be your qualifying child but you adopted the person in 2025, the person was lawfully placed with you for legal adoption by you in 2025, or if the person was an eligible foster child placed with you during 2025, the person is considered to have lived with you for more than half of 2025 if your main home was this person’s main home for more than half the time since the person was adopted or placed with you in 2025.

Any other person is considered to have lived with you for all of 2025 if the person was born or died in 2025 and your home was this person’s home for the entire time the person was alive in 2025, or if you adopted the person in 2025, the person was lawfully placed with you for legal adoption by you in 2025, or the person was an eligible foster child placed with you during 2025 and your main home was the person’s main home for the entire time since the person was adopted or placed with you in 2025.

Foster child.

A foster child is any child placed with you by an authorized placement agency or by judgment, decree, or other order of any court of competent jurisdiction.

Full-time student.

A full-time student is a child who during any part of 5 calendar months of 2025 was enrolled as a full-time student at a school or took a full-time, on-farm training course given by a school or a state, county, or local government agency. A school includes a technical, trade, or mechanical school. It doesn’t include an on-the-job training course, correspondence school, or school offering courses only through the Internet.

Kidnapped child.

If your child is presumed by law enforcement authorities to have been kidnapped by someone who isn’t a family member, you may be able to take the child into account in determining your eligibility for head of household or qualifying surviving spouse filing status, the child tax credit, the credit for other dependents, and the earned income credit (EIC). For details, see Pub. 501 (Pub. 596 for the EIC).

Married person.

If the person is married and files a joint return, you can’t claim that person as your dependent. However, if the person is married but doesn’t file a joint return or files a joint return only to claim a refund of withheld income tax or estimated tax paid, you may be able to claim that person as a dependent. (See Pub. 501 for details and examples.) In that case, go to Step 2, question 3 (for a qualifying child), or Step 4, question 4 (for a qualifying relative).

Multiple support agreements.

If no one person contributed over half of the support of your relative (or a person who lived with you all year as a member of your household) but you and another person(s) provided more than half of your relative’s support, special rules may apply that would treat you as having provided over half of the support. For details, see Pub. 501.

Permanently and totally disabled.

A person is permanently and totally disabled if, at any time in 2025, the person can’t engage in any substantial gainful activity because of a physical or mental condition and a doctor has determined that this condition has lasted or can be expected to last continuously for at least a year or can be expected to lead to death.

Public assistance payments.

If you received payments under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program or other public assistance program and you used the money to support another person, see Pub. 501.

Qualifying child of more than one person.

Even if a child meets the conditions to be the qualifying child of more than one person, only one person can claim the child as a qualifying child for all of the following tax benefits, unless the special rule for Children of divorced or separated parents , described earlier, applies.

Child tax credit and credit for other dependents (line 19) and additional child tax credit (line 28).

Head of household filing status.

Credit for child and dependent care expenses (Schedule 3, line 2).

Exclusion for dependent care benefits (Form 2441, Part III).

Earned income credit (line 27a).

If only one of the persons is the child’s parent, 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 together 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 in 2025. If the child lived with each parent for the same amount of time, the IRS will treat the child as the qualifying child of the parent who had the higher adjusted gross income (AGI) for 2025.

If no parent can claim the child as a qualifying child, the child is treated as the qualifying child of the person who had the highest AGI for 2025.

If a parent can claim the child as a qualifying 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 2025, but only if that person’s AGI is higher than the highest AGI of any parent of the child who can claim the child.

Example.

Your child meets the conditions to be a qualifying child for both you and your parent. Your child doesn’t meet the conditions to be a qualifying child of any other person, including your child’s other parent. Under the rules just described, you can claim your child as a qualifying child for all of the five tax benefits just listed for which you otherwise qualify. Your parent can’t claim any of those five tax benefits based on your child. However, if your parent’s AGI is higher than yours and you do not claim your child as a qualifying child, your child is the qualifying child of your parent.

For more details and examples, see Pub. 501.

If you will be claiming the child as a qualifying child, go to Step 2. Otherwise, stop; you can’t claim any benefits based on this child.

Social security number.

You must enter each dependent’s social security number (SSN). Be sure the name and SSN entered agree with the dependent’s social security card. Otherwise, at the time we process your return, we may reduce or disallow any tax benefits (such as the child tax credit) based on that dependent. If the name or SSN on the dependent’s social security card isn’t correct or you need to get an SSN for your dependent, contact the Social Security Administration (SSA). See Social Security Number (SSN) , earlier. If your dependent won’t have a number by the date your return is due, see What if You Can’t File on Time? earlier.

For the child tax credit, your child must have a valid SSN. A valid SSN is one that is valid for employment and that is issued by the SSA before the due date of your 2025 return (including extensions). If your child was a U.S. citizen when the child received the SSN, the SSN is valid for employment. If “Not Valid for Employment” is printed on your child’s social security card and your child’s immigration status has changed so that your child is now a U.S. citizen or permanent resident, ask the SSA for a new social security card without the legend. However, if “Valid for Work Only With DHS Authorization” is printed on your child’s social security card, your child has the required SSN only as long as the DHS authorization is valid.

If your dependent child was born and died in 2025 and you do not have an SSN for the child, enter “Died” on row (3) of the Dependents section and include a copy of the child’s birth certificate, death certificate, or hospital records. The document must show the child was born alive.

If you didn’t have an SSN that is valid for employment and issued before the due date of your 2025 return (including extensions), you can’t claim the child tax credit on your original or amended 2025 return. To claim the credit on a joint return, you or your spouse must have an SSN that is valid for employment and issued before the due date of your 2025 return (including extensions). The other spouse must have either an SSN or ITIN, and it must have been issued on or before the due date of the return (including extensions). If you, or your spouse if filing jointly, didn’t have either an SSN or ITIN issued on or before the due date of your 2025 return (including extensions), you can’t claim the credit for other dependents on your original or amended return.

If you apply for an ITIN on or before the due date of your 2025 return (including extensions) and the IRS issues you an ITIN as a result of the application, the IRS will consider your ITIN as issued on or before the due date of your return.