Rejected E-file for EIC no Child

[BulldogTom]

Taxpayer is low income and qualifies for EIC even though no children. The return rejected in E-file for no children associated with form EIC.

Anyone else have this rejection?

Tom

Hollister, CA

[Guest Taxed]

I just did a return today for a fellow who made 6300 for the year, no kids got a few hundred of EIC and I got the ACK accepted.

I had previously gotten a few EIC rejects and the problem was mine. i was not checking off all the required boxes (especially what document did you consider etc.) once i fixed and resubmitted 2 went through and 2 are awaiting ACK. Will know by tomorrow am.

[taxtrio]

Do you have the birthdate in filer's information screen?

Age is a qualifier.. at least 25 and less than 65 yrs old.

Taxtrio

[Guest Taxed]

Folks, EIC is a PIA this season because of those additional questions that we never had. I just printed the EIC checklist and now before I even enter data in the software I will go over the checklist in paper so that I don't miss any boxes that are required. I timed it today with a staff member and it will add around 10-15 minutes additional time based on how many of those documents I have to scan in. Not increasing my fees this year but next season I will have to seriously consider that because of the extra time and effort of retaining those docs.

[ILLMAS]

I just did a return today for a fellow who made 6300 for the year, no kids got a few hundred of EIC and I got the ACK accepted.

I had previously gotten a few EIC rejects and the problem was mine. i was not checking off all the required boxes (especially what document did you consider etc.) once i fixed and resubmitted 2 went through and 2 are awaiting ACK. Will know by tomorrow am.

What documents did you request for him/her to support form 8867 if any? I was looking at the form, I have a similar client like yours, but it seems it's for taxpayer with kids, disable or Sch C income that qualifies them for EIC.

[joanmcq]

Answer N/A. It's one of the options.

[David1980]

With no qualifying child, there's three rejects I can think of. The reject text would look something like:

1. If Form 1040, Line 64a 'EarnedIncomeCreditAmt' has a non-zero value and Schedule EIC (Form 1040) is not present in the return, then the Primary Taxpayer and/or the Spouse Taxpayer in the Return Header must be at least 25 years old but not be older than 64.

2. Form 8862 must be present in the return. e-File database indicates the taxpayer must file Form 8862 to Claim Earned Income Credit after disallowance.

3. Form 1040, Line 64a 'EarnedIncomeCreditAmt' must have a zero value if an amount is entered. e-File database indicates the taxpayer is not allowed to claim Earned Income Credit for the tax year.

The only one that mentions Schedule EIC is the first. If that's the reject, the issue is the IRS believes the taxpayer is either under age 25 or over age 64. Note that they're looking at the age in their database - doesn't matter what DOB you enter. Seems to me they were issuing this reject in error earlier in January.

[Pacun]

If you enter the wrong date of birth, then you will be rejected because the date of birth of the TP doesn't match the database. So the 25-65 requirement is not an issue here.

[Don in Upstate NY]

If you enter the wrong date of birth, then you will be rejected because the date of birth of the TP doesn't match the database. So the 25-65 requirement is not an issue here.

The date of birth is not required on a 1040, except in the rare case where the ERO does not use the Practitioner Pin method. Note that there is no place for DOB on a paper return.

[joanmcq]

The date of birth is not required on a 1040, except in the rare case where the ERO does not use the Practitioner Pin method. Note that there is no place for DOB on a paper return.

No, not required per se- but necessary if claiming EIC, 8880, or a plethora of other credits or entitlements based on age in ANY software program. And required not only to calculate these forms, but also to efile.

[Don in Upstate NY]

No, not required per se- but necessary if claiming EIC, 8880, or a plethora of other credits or entitlements based on age in ANY software program. And required not only to calculate these forms, but also to efile.

My point is that the DOB that you enter into your software is NOT transmitted to the IRS (at least it wasn't under the legacy e-file system.) There was simply no record defined for it. It's like the child tax credit - the software calculates the age of the kid based on the DOB you input, and puts a checkmark on page one of the 1040. The fact that the box is checked (not the DOB you entered) is then transmitted to the IRS. The IRS computer sees that the box is checked, verifies that the kid is of the correct age according to the SSA database, and everyone is happy.

[David1980]

My point is that the DOB that you enter into your software is NOT transmitted to the IRS (at least it wasn't under the legacy e-file system.) There was simply no record defined for it. It's like the child tax credit - the software calculates the age of the kid based on the DOB you input, and puts a checkmark on page one of the 1040. The fact that the box is checked (not the DOB you entered) is then transmitted to the IRS. The IRS computer sees that the box is checked, verifies that the kid is of the correct age according to the SSA database, and everyone is happy.

Exactly. There's a lot of information that you enter when doing a tax return that doesn't get transmitted to the IRS. Another example of when the DOB does get transmitted, when you have kids on Schedule EIC the year of birth is present on the form. So you could get a reject if that year is wrong. Normally though the DOB doesn't get transmitted (but is used by the program to calculate correctly.)

[BulldogTom]

It was a bug in the EIC form according to ATX board Michelle. She says they fixed it and when you download the latest form it should not happen again. Will check and see later today.

Tom

Hollister, CA