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You are correct. If the parents live together [and with the child, who does not provide over half his own support] and there is no dispute, either parent can claim the child and all the applicable tax benefits. Obviously, the one claiming the child may or may not be HOH. The benefits cannot be split.

Exactly right. The original credit (long ago) was pretty good, but over the years they've cut it down so much and the cumulative ceiling has limited tax savings so much that it just isn't worth the trouble and we can't charge enough to justify the research involved.

Because many of these effects are so minimal they wouldn't even pay the cost of preparation. Residential energy credits, excluding exotic things like geothermal, are limited to $500, but the preparer has to examine all previous credits dating back to 2007. Speaking only for myself, most of my long-time customers who would upgrade for energy have used up their credits long ago. Reviving some of these credits would help a small percentage of energy-conscious taxpayers because of prior usage. Being conservative, I do worry about the huge deficit. I wish some of these lobbyists fighting for these goodies would figure out a way to pay for them. Not partisan political here, each party is as bad as the other re: spending.