What to do if we deny your claim for a credit

 

If we deny the claim you made for these credits on your tax return:

  • Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)
  • Child Tax Credit (CTC)
  • Additional Child Tax Credit (ACTC)
  • Credit for Other Dependents (ODC)
  • American Opportunity Tax Credit (AOTC)

You may need to:

  • Pay back the claims, plus interest
  • File Form 8862 when you claim the credit again

We could also ban you from claiming the EITC for 2 to 10 years or assess the Erroneous Claim for Refund or Credit Penalty  

File Form 8862

If we denied or reduced your EITC for a tax year after 1996 (CTC, ACTC, ODC or AOTC for a tax year after 2015) for any reason other than a math or clerical error, you must include Form 8862, Information to Claim Certain Credits After Disallowance with your next tax return.

You don’t have to include the form with your next tax return, if:

  • You already filed Form 8862 and we then allowed you to claim the credits and we didn’t reduce or deny your credit again for any reason other than a math or clerical error, or
  • You’re claiming the EITC without a qualifying child and the only reason we reduced or denied your EITC was because of a qualifying child or
  • You received a CP74 notice from us saying we recertified you

Ban you from claiming the EITC

You can’t claim the credits again for several years if we found that you previously tried to claim them against the rules. You can’t claim the credits for:

  • 2 years after we made a final decision to reduce or deny your EITC due to reckless or intentional disregard of the rules
  • 10 years after we made a final decision to reduce or deny your EITC due to fraud

Erroneous claim for refund or credit penalty

If you submit a claim for refund or credit of income tax for an excessive amount and reasonable cause does not apply, the Erroneous Claim for Refund or Credit penalty will be applied. The penalty is 20 percent of the excessive amount or the amount of the claim for refund or credit that exceeds the amount allowable for the taxable year.

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