TAP A03-024

Forms 8836, 8856 Improvement

Statement of Issue:

The EITC Issue Committee was asked to provide feedback on draft Form 8836, Qualifying Children Residency Statement, and Form 8856, Qualifying Child Relationship Statement, proposed to implement the EITC Precertification Initiative.

Proposal:

The Committee provided line-by-line recommendations for improvement of Form 8836, including:

• Require separate form for each child.
• Instead of requiring “personal knowledge,” the verification statement should allow the third party to state that the taxpayer(s) lived with the child(ren) for the specified period “to the best of my knowledge and belief under penalties of perjury.”
• Add to the face of the form “Criminal penalties may be imposed for making a false statement” after “Under penalties of perjury."
• Amend the Instructions by including an explanation of Who Must File and/or Who May File.
• Explain the benefits of precertification for the taxpayer in the Instructions

In addition, the Committee objected to the requirement that SSNs of the applicants and their children be provided to third parties because of privacy and security concerns and proposed a separate form for the third party and alternate ways for the IRS to obtain the third party verification.

The Committee provided line-by-line recommendations for improvement of Form 8856, including:

• Add a Baptismal Certificate or equivalent ceremonial record as a means of documentation.
• Amend the Instructions by including an explanation of Who Must File and/or Who May File.
• Add step grandchild and step great-grandchild and step-niece and step-nephew as examples under Relationship Test in the Instructions.
• Explain the benefits of precertification for the taxpayer in the Instructions.

The Committee also proposed that Schedule EIC might be changed to encompass the information required by Forms 8836 and 8856.