Had a little more time to read further on the earned income credit and “qualifying child” and found this:
"If you and another person have the same qualifying child, you and the other person(s) can decide which of you will treat the child as a qualifying child. That person can take all of the following tax benefits (provided the person is eligible for each benefit) based on the qualifying child.
The exemption for the child.
The child tax credit.
Head of household filing status.
The credit for child and dependent care expenses.
The exclusion from income for dependent care benefits.
The earned income credit.
The other person cannot take any of these benefits based on this qualifying child. In other words, you and the other person cannot agree to divide these tax benefits between you."
98V8Tbird - From this section looks like the approach you took could present problems. However, it appears that if you and your fiance both took an exemption for 1 child, you could claim head of household and she could claim the EIC.
Just a heads up. Although, I would think the software you used would have a check that would throw up a red flag as soon as you tried to claim head of household with claiming a dependent or identifying some other qualifying individual.
This seems true, what what I thought I knew. But then the number for the EIC would drop since it would be a family of 2 and not three…
And don’t trust the software, many people have been burned by the tax software. And even if the IRS accepts the return, that really doesn’t mean everything is ok. It just means six years from now, when they get all of '06’s taxes completed you will get the audit call…
Let’s know what the block tells you…