{"id":19992,"date":"2017-06-14T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-06-14T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hrblock.com\/tax-center\/"},"modified":"2024-03-11T13:58:15","modified_gmt":"2024-03-11T18:58:15","slug":"claiming-expenses-for-your-child","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hrblock.com\/tax-center\/filing\/dependents\/claiming-expenses-for-your-child\/","title":{"rendered":"If my spouse and I file separate returns, does the person who claims the child also get to claim all of the child expens"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Yes, if you are Married Filing Separate, the spouse who claims the child as a dependent will also claim all the other tax benefits associated with the child. These benefits include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hrblock.com\/tax-center\/filing\/credits\/child-tax-credit\/\">Child Tax Credit<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Exclusion from income for dependent or dependents care benefits, but the maximum amount is half the normal allowed.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>However, you can each claim the medical expenses that you paid for your child, if you&#8217;re itemizing deductions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Note: The credit for child and dependent care expenses is normally not available for MFS returns. And the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hrblock.com\/tax-center\/filing\/credits\/earned-income-credit\/\">Earned Income Credit<\/a> (EIC) is never available for MFS returns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You and your spouse can&#8217;t agree to splitting benefits between yourselves.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Yes, if you are Married Filing Separate, the spouse who claims the child as a dependent will also claim all the other tax benefits associated with the child. These benefits include: However, you can each claim the medical expenses that you paid for your child, if you&#8217;re itemizing deductions. Note: The credit for child and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[36,125],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19992","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dependents","category-filing"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<title>Claiming Expenses for your Child | H&amp;R Block<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"When claiming a child for taxes, which spouse gets to claim all expenses? Learn how child expenses are claimed. 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