Child Tax Credit

Births and deaths meet the requirement as long as the taxpayer's main home was (or would have been) the child's main home for more than half of the time he or she was alive in the year. Whether a child is born alive depends on state law.

Thanks Alan. The issue isn't whether a child is born alive, but if it is born (alive and stays alive) after July 2, so that it is only "alive" for 182 or fewer days during the year, whether the child has lived with the parent for more than half the year. In the case of a newborn, it is half the calendar year, or half the child's life up to the end of the year? It sounds like you're saying that a child born, even late in the year, can qualify.

I've known many people who had a child born in December (even December 31) who got full credit for the child. As I understand it, the issue is always whether the child lived more than half the time (i.e., the time the child is alive) with the parent claiming the credit.

As to what constitutes a legal birth, I would assume a child born alive (even if only for a few seconds) who is issued a birth certificate by the state showing date of birth within the tax year would qualify.

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According to the IRS, the child has to have a Social Security Number. I suspect that would be difficult if the child didn't live very long.

Will the IRS equate "180 days" with "six months"? They're not the same.

July-December have four 31-day months and two 30-day, for a total of

To be alive at the end of the year but less than 180 days in the year, a child would need to be born on or after July 6th.

Generally, a combined application for birth certificate and Social Security Number is used by the obstetrician or whoever reports the live birth to the vital statistics registrar. It's just a matter of waiting for the SSN to be issued before filing the tax return.

Well, there is this:

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Counting days of the year has nothing to do with it. The date that the child is born is not the issue. It's not a strict requirement that the child live with you for more than 182 days. IRS Publication 501 says the following.

"Death or birth of child. A child who was born or died during the year is treated as having lived with you more than half the year if your home was the child's home more than half the time the child was alive during the year."

So a child born anytime during the year is "treated as" having lived with you for more than half the year, even if the child did not actually live with you for more than half the year. The date that the child was born doesn't matter, and the actual number of days doesn't matter.

Bob Sandler

I'm not following the reasoning behind exceptions to obtaining a Social Security Number for the newborn.

Under 1. The Earned Income Credit, if the child was born and died within the same calendar year and wasn't issued an SSN, IRS allows the the birth or death certificate or record of live birth to be substituted for the SSN.

This doesn't make any sense. Applications for issuance of birth and death certifications are mandatory under state vital statistics laws and these days, the record of live birth is part of the very same application package used to obtain the SSN. Medical personnel are obligated to record the live birth then apply for the birth certificate even though the newborn didn't live very long. With the parents' permission, the state vital statistics registry applies for the newborn's SSN. There is no burden on the parents to present the birth certificate with SS-5 in person at the local Social Security office.

The Social Security program is called Enumeration at Birth.

Obtaining the SSN on a timely basis to file a tax return listing a newborn is simply not an obstacle these days.

The last sentences don't make any sense.

Beginning with the 2021 tax year, singles and couples who have SSNs can claim the credit, even if your children don't have SSNs. In this instance, you may be eligible for the earned income credit available to childless workers.

Is this child that was born and died in the same calendar year but was never issued an SSN a qualifying child or not? If the child without an SSN is a qualified child, then is this rule permanent or temporary because during the economic shutdown for COVID, state vital statistics registery workers and Social Security workers weren't reporting to the office resulting in extreme delays in issuing SSNs? If it's a COVID exception for 2021, I don't see why it's still in effect for 2022.

Under 2. Dependency and/or Child Tax Credit, I'm a bit confused as to how the child can be a qualifying child, meeting the residency test, but not being eligible for an SSN and therefore needing an ITIN. Yes, I understand about circumstances involving adoption and being unable to apply for the SSN on the child's behalf unti the adoption completes.

Thanks Bob. That was the piece I was missing. I saw "more than half the year" but missed the part about a child born during that year. It makes bureaucratic sense, but tax rules don't always seem to make sense.

According to Adam H. Kerman snipped-for-privacy@chinet.com:

Life can be complicated. Not every child is born in a hospital, some hospitals are better at carrying through the paperwork than others.

While I agree that in recent years most newborns get SSNs along with their birth certificate, not all of them do.

Of course there can be paperwork screwups. Yes, you're right. But this permission to the state to apply for the newborn's SSN on behalf of the parents is given in the form of a check box on form on which the parents' identification is already being collected that one of them must sign for the birth certificate. This is one of the very few instances of an improved bureaucratic procedure truly reduces paperwork for the applicant.

It shouldn't matter where the birth takes place. Somebody has the obligation to report the birth (except the cab driver). The person obligated to report the birth will have the correct paperwork for the birth certificate, which will include permission to apply for the SSN.

Gosh, I hope they don't make things more difficult for the poor parents in this hypothetical, given that the newborn is not healthy. Don't want to force these parents to make an avoidable trip to the Social Security office.