EITC filing separately when married and living together - confused about rules

Oh no, that's not what I wanted to hear! Is there any loophole or exception at all? Like what if he has almost no income this year, would that change anything?

There really isn't a loophole in this case. The IRS is very specific about married filing separately and EITC eligibility. Your husband's income level doesn't change the filing status requirements. If you're concerned about maximizing your refund, you might want to run the numbers both ways (jointly vs. separately) using tax software to see which gives you the better overall result. While you'd lose the EITC filing separately, there might be other situations where filing separately could be beneficial, like if one of you has significant medical expenses or student loan interest. That said, for most couples with children, filing jointly typically results in a better tax outcome, especially because of credits like the EITC.

Does this service actually give legitimate tax advice? I've been burned before by online "tax experts" who gave me bad info that caused me to get audited.

I'm curious - can it handle more complicated situations? Like I have a small business and rental property along with EITC questions like the OP.

It's not generic advice but personalized guidance based on your specific documents and tax rules. The service has tax professionals reviewing the AI outputs to ensure accuracy, which is why I felt confident using their recommendations. They're particularly good with tax credit eligibility questions like EITC. For complicated situations with small businesses and rental properties, that's actually where I found it most helpful. I have a side gig and was confused about deductions and how they affected my EITC. The service analyzed my income sources and explained exactly how different filing choices would impact my credits and overall tax situation. You can upload your documentation and get specific guidance rather than trying to piece together general rules.

How does this actually work? Does the IRS know you're using a service to hold your place in line? I'm worried about getting flagged for something weird.

Yeah right. Nothing gets you through to the IRS. I've tried calling for 3 months straight about my refund. This sounds like a scam to me.

They use a call system that holds your place in the IRS queue and then connects you directly with the IRS agent when they answer. The IRS has no idea you used a service - to them, it's just a normal call and you're speaking directly with the agent. It's completely legitimate and doesn't affect how the IRS views your call at all. I was just as skeptical as you are! I had been trying to reach someone at the IRS for weeks about my EITC question. The hold times were 2+ hours, and I kept getting disconnected. With Claimyr, I set it up, went about my day, and got a call back when an agent was on the line. The conversation was directly with the IRS agent, and I finally got my EITC question answered clearly. It's not a scam - it's just a clever way to avoid sitting on hold for hours.

We were thinking about filing separately because my husband has some old tax debt from before we were married, and I'm worried about my refund being taken if we file jointly. But I'm going to look at the numbers both ways like you suggested. Do you know if there's a way to protect my portion of the refund even if we file jointly?

In your situation with the old tax debt, you should look into filing IRS Form 8379 (Injured Spouse Allocation) if you file jointly. This form tells the IRS not to use your portion of the refund to pay your spouse's separate debt. You'd qualify as an injured spouse if you don't owe the debt, have reportable income like wages, and are expecting a refund of some of your income tax withholding or refundable credits. Filing this form would potentially allow you to keep your portion of the refund while still getting the tax benefits of filing jointly, including EITC eligibility. The calculations can get a bit complex, so using tax software that handles injured spouse allocations might be helpful. This approach could give you the best of both worlds - joint filing benefits without losing your refund to his old debt.

This is super important advice. The IRS scrutinizes EITC claims more than almost anything else. They have a high improper payment rate for this credit, so they're extra careful. Make sure ALL income is reported.

Thank you for sharing your experience! It's really helpful to hear from someone who went through the same situation. I'm definitely going to calculate both scenarios now - I hadn't realized the injured spouse form could potentially let us file jointly while protecting my refund from his old debt. That sounds like it could be the perfect solution. Did you have to provide a lot of documentation when you filed Form 8379, or was it pretty straightforward? I'm worried about making the process more complicated than it needs to be.

Form 8379 was actually pretty straightforward to file! You mainly need to provide your income information (like W-2s, 1099s), tax withholdings, and refundable credits that are attributable to you versus your spouse. The form walks you through allocating the income and payments between both spouses. The key documentation I needed was proof of my separate income sources and tax payments. Since you're the one with the job claiming your daughter for EITC, you'd probably have most of what's needed already. The IRS processing time was a bit longer (took about 11 weeks to get my portion of the refund), but it was worth it to keep that money safe from his old debt while still getting the joint filing benefits. Just make sure to keep detailed records of which income and withholdings belong to each of you - that makes filling out the form much easier!