 We're looking now at the Form 1040 Instructions Tax Year 2022. You can find on the IRS website, irs.gov, irs.gov, specifically at Dependence, Qualifying Child for Child Tax Credit and Credit for Other Dependence because, of course, the Child Tax Credit and the Other Dependent Credit is wound up intimately with whether or not someone qualifies as a dependent. So the general thought process would be, then, does someone qualify as a dependent? If they do, what are the tax benefits if they do? Well, if they qualify for the Child Tax Credit, that would be the biggest benefit, typically. And if I can't get that for the dependent, then possibly we can get, then, the other dependent question. So let's go to the question ear here, which goes through this in a little bit more detail, a little bit more formally, and then if you see a gray area somewhere in between, you can drill down with more research, possibly starting at the instructions here on the Form 1040. Okay, step one, so do you have a qualifying child? So this doesn't necessarily mean for the qualifying for the Child Tax Credit. It means a qualifying child to be a dependent. We want to keep those things straight or separate in our mind, especially when we get down to things like these age requirements. Okay, so first, a qualifying child is a child who is son, daughter, stepchild, foster child, brother, sister, stepbrother, step sister, half-brother, half-sister, or decedent of any of them. For example, your grandchild, niece, or nephew, and was under age 19 at the end of 2022 and younger than you or your spouse of filing jointly. Normally that second bit, not usually important, unless you have a weird situation, but you can imagine weird situations. So the age limit 19 or under age 24 at the end of 2022, a student to find later and younger than you or your spouse if filing jointly. So now we've got the age limits under 19 or under 24 at the end of 2022, a student. So then you have to be thinking about what qualifies as a student and you could dive into that in more detail in terms of what would qualify for a student for that age limit of 24 or any age and permanently and totally disabled. So permanently and totally disabled, the exception to the general rules up top, which are under 19, under 24, and then son, daughter, stepchild, and so on and so forth. And who didn't provide over half their own support for 2022. So they didn't provide over half their own support for 2022 and who isn't filing a joint return. If they were filing a joint return, you would think they would not be a dependent because they would be filing married filing joint for 2022 or is filing a joint return for 2022 only to claim a refund of withheld income tax or estimated tax paid. So there could be an exception to that rule possibly if you had like a young couple or something like that, but general rule, not filing, not married, because then they wouldn't be a dependent because they'd be filing a married filing joint and who lived with you for more than half of 2022. If the child didn't live with you for the required time, see exceptions to live with you. So now we've got they lived with you for half of 2022. That gets into questions in terms of what does it mean to live with me? What if they're they had to go to the hospital or something like that? Medical conditions, does that count for living with me? And so on. If you want to dive into some more details on those questions, you can see the exception to time lived with you. So if the child meets the condition to be a qualifying child of any other person other than your spouse if filing jointly for 2022, see qualifying child for more than one person later. That's another area that gets into this muddy situation of, well, what if you have a joint custody type of situation and you think two spouses qualify? Well, you can't have that same individual child being a tax benefit on two tax returns. You can't use the same social security number, for example, on two tax returns. So you've got it. You've got to purse purse that out. Number one, do you have a child who meets the condition to be your qualifying child? If yes, you go to step two. If no, go to step four. So if we go to step two, is your qualified child your dependent? If you go to step four, then we're talking about someone who isn't a qualifying child possibly to see if they would qualify for the other dependent credit because they're not a qualified child. So we're going to go to step two here. Is your qualifying child your dependent? One, was the child a U.S. citizen, U.S. national, U.S. resident alien or a resident of Canada or Mexico? If you want more detail on that, you can see publication 519 for more information. If the answer is yes, we continue on. If no, you can't claim this child as a dependent. Was the child married? If yes, we continue on. If no, then I'm sorry. Was the child married? If yes, see married person. If no, we continue on because if they're married, generally, then they wouldn't be a dependent. So could you or your spouse of filing jointly be claimed as a dependent on someone else's 2022 return? If the person who could claim you on their 2022 return is not required to file and isn't filing a 2022 tax return or is filing a 2020 return only to be claimed a refund withheld income tax or estimated tax paid, check no, C step one, two and four. So could you be claimed on someone else's return? Typically you would think the answer would be no because you would have a dependent that is dependent upon you. If you were dependent on someone else, then that would be kind of unusual. That means someone else would be paying half of your support and you're paying half you. So if yes, you can't claim any dependents, complete the rest of the form. No, you can claim this child as a dependent. Complete columns one through three of the dependent section on page one to form 1040 or 1040 SR for this child. Then go to step three. Okay, step number three. Does your qualifying child qualify you for the child tax credit or credit for other dependents? Now note, this is a little confusing on the language because then you said, first we said, are they a qualifying child? Which sounds like you're like, well, does that mean they're qualifying for the child tax credit? No, it means that they're qualifying child qualifying as a qualifying child for the dependent as a dependent. But now they're a qualifying child and the question is, do they now allow you to qualify for the child tax credit? Which has some added rules here on step three, which would be the biggest benefit typically for the dependent. So this is the best one we would want. If they don't qualify for that, then we may still be able to get the other dependent credit, which we might be able to get on a qualifying child, which doesn't qualify for the child tax credit or someone who isn't possibly a qualifying child, but still qualifies as a dependent. Okay, so did the child have an SSN social security number or ITIN or adoption taxpayer identification number and ATIN issued on or before the due date of your return, including extensions? Answer yes, if you are applying for an ITIN or ATIN for the child on or before the due date of your return. If yes, we continue. If no, you can't claim the child tax credit or the credit for other dependents. Number two, was the child a U.S. citizen, U.S. national, U.S. resident, alien C publication 519 for more details. If yes, we continue. If no, you can't claim the child tax credit or the credit for other dependents.