If you don't work that much and the bulk of the tax liability is from your husband's earnings, the tax credits go against his earnings, not yours.

For example, if you made under 9630 as a single person you would owe no tax, and get no use of the child tax credit, it reduced taxes owed, it's not refundable when you owe nothing.

The formula the IRS uses for injured spouse allocation is not published, but I'm assuming any tax credits are being attributed to his income, and not yours. Who's biological child it is doesn't matter, his stepson qualifies as his dependent.

Hope that helps.

He is my Husbands Son, but even if I can't claim him by not making enough money, the money should be for our Son, not go to my Husbands ex-wife and Texas. It's just ridiculous because if we didn't have our Son, they wouldn't be getting this extra money, they shouldn't have a right to take it from my Son and send it for a debt, our Son has nothing to do with his back child support. Even my Husbands ex-wife thinks it's wrong that the IRS is taking this money and sending it to the back child support, but ofcourse she's not sending it back to us when she get's it!

Your son doesn't owe taxes, so the credit is not his credit. It's intent is to reduce taxes owed by parents, which is what it already did: your husband got the credit and it reduced his tax liability/increased his refund.

His obligation to the IRS for federal income tax is completely separate for his obligation to catch up on his child support arrears. He kept his child support money in his pocket and did not pay in the past, that's why he's behind and the IRS is aiding support enforcement to collect. Ask him what he did with the money, because you need it now to support your own son... that's your central problem, his not paying in the past.

If you want more of the tax credits to be retained by your household, you need to up your own earnings so that part of it is to reduce your portion of the tax liability instead of your husbands.

My Husband did not keep the child support money in his pocket, thank you, he was in a bad car accident which left him with a broken hip and knee. He couldn't work for 2 years until he was approved for surgery from the VA Hospital. By that time, he was behind and the state of Texas was also adding huge amounts of interest to the debt. He was behind by 10,000, but over the past 12 years, the interest alone added to this tripled the amount he owes. He's been paying both child support and back child support since I've met him 10 years ago. He's not one of these lazy men that doesn't pay, so I guess nice guys do finish last

The exception is if you reside in a community property state and if you do: the Injured spouse form 8379 you have been submitting with your tax return is not being completed correctly. The allocations are to be entered 50/50 whether the earnings were yours or your husbands has no bearing BECAUSE you are in a community property state. Therefore, half of everything is yours whether it be liability or refund and the IRS will delegate it as such.

Even in the 8 community property states, the IRS does not use the 50/50 community property presumption on all federal tax credits. The IRS is not likely to be calculating the injured spouse allocation incorrectly.