form 8812

[grandmabee]

I thought there was no payback of the child tax credit if you made under 40,000 and filed MFS and kids going to mother.  I can't get the form to not make taxpayer pay it back with income of 28,000.   Am I missing a step on the 8812. I mark living in USA and advance of 1500 and no kids.  Show I must pay back all 1500.

[grandmabee]

I found it !  left off line 30, once that was done it worked as supposed to.

 

[Sara EA]

This proves why DIY software can be dangerous.  It takes a tax professional to know what the return is supposed to look like and catch these data entry errors.  To me, the most important part of tax prep is looking at the return when it's completed to be sure everything makes sense and is where it's supposed to be.  Believe me, I am not looking for new business and rarely take new clients, and I would be beyond bored if all I did was easy 1040s.  (At this time of year, is there such a thing?)  Lots of folks could easily do their own returns with no problems, but EIP and ACTC and premium tax credits and on and on make that less likely for many.  As I've said before, at least half of the returns I do have something missing, and if software doesn't alert the DIY folks who knows what they're missing out on.  Like attempting your own electrical work or plumbing, it's important to know what you don't know and turn to a pro.