Question:   If both parents want to claim the earned income credit but were never married, who is entitled to claim the credit?

Answer:   If the child is a qualifying child of both parents, they may choose which one will claim the credit.

• If there are two qualifying children, each parent may claim the credit on the basis of one of the children.
• One parent may claim the credit on the basis of both children.
• If both claim the credit on the basis of the same child, the parent who is entitled to the credit, is the parent with whom the child lived for the longer period of time during the tax year, or the parent with the higher adjusted gross income (AGI) if the child lived with each parent for the same amount of time during the year.