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My Child has an ITIN right now(April/8/2021). She soon(in a month or two) will be eligible for SSN. If I file her taxes using ITIN and later complete the steps of notifying IRS when she receives her SSN to combine her SSN and ITIN, will she receive the child tax credit in the current year of filing?
April 8, 2021 8:20 AM Expert AlumniWhen your daughter receives her SSN, you can amend your return to include her SSN and ad the child tax credit. For more information on amending your return, please see this TurboTax Help article: How do I amend my 2020 return?
April 8, 2021 8:33 AMThank you for your reply. I really appreciate it. But according to the below text, it seems like I cannot retroactively claim child tax benefit by amending previously filed tax if the amended tax is after the "due date of return".
Not sure what the due date is. Is it May 17th, 2021(Filing deadline)?
"The Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes or PATH Act made several changes to the tax law, including preventing retroactive claims of the EITC by amending a return or filing an original return for any earlier year in which the individual or anyone listed on the return did not have a SSN valid for employment. You can't claim EITC unless the Social Security number for you, your spouse (if married filing a joint return) or a qualifying child is issued before the due date of the return including any valid extensions."
April 8, 2021 9:06 AM Expert Alumni@mktax File an extension. You are correct with what the PATH Act says. Therefore, if you were to file using your daughter's ITIN, you would need to amend by May 17th in order to apply the Social Security number. However, if you file an extension , the PATH Act will allow you to file using your daughter's newly acquired SSN (assuming the process is finished before October 15th), and have it applied to Tax Year 2020. This will allow you to claim the (potentially) $2000 Child Tax Credit (of which up to $1400) is refundable vs. the Other Dependent Credit, which is limited to $500 and is not deductible (can't contribute to additional refund if your tax is $0).
In addition, you could potentially qualify for two other credits: Earned Income Credit (if both you and your mate, if married, also have Social Security Numbers, and your income is "low enough"). In addition, if either you or your spouse (if filing jointly) has a Social Security Number, the daughter (if under 17 by the end of 2020) would also qualify for the Recovery Rebate Credit (or stimulus).
Therefore, it is worth it to wait to file to apply her Social Security Number. But to do so, you will want to file an extension so that the benefits can be claimed up until October 15th instead of expiring on May 17th. For additional information, you may also reference the following website: Who Qualifies for the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), where you'll see the following information:
Valid Social Security Number
To qualify for the EITC, everyone you claim on your taxes must have a valid Social Security number (SSN). To be valid, the SSN must be:
For the EITC, we accept a Social Security number on a Social Security card that has the words, "Valid for work with DHS authorization," on it.
For the EITC, we don’t accept:
For more information about the Social Security number rules for the EITC, see Rule 2 in Publication 596, Earned Income Credit.
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