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On screen 1, did you mark the state of residence as "PY"? This will cause the NRs not to produce if not marked. I make this mistake all the time.

That took care of it! Thanks.

I do not know about you but I check birth certificates and school records of all children that are not direct descendants.Tax offices that do a large volume of EITC learn to check those items to avoid audits.

When President Clinton reformed welfare "as we know it," it was largely replaced by the EITC. The difference was that you had to have earned income to get it (as in EARNED Income Tax Credit). Welfare rolls dropped precipitously as former recipients went to work. Welfare office employees had to retool from determining eligibility for free money to getting people into jobs and training programs. For a while it worked out just as planned. Eventually electronic filing grew and DIY software came on the scene. Instead of filling out forms and pages of worksheets, people learned how to plug numbers into a computer. If they didn't like the result, they'd play with the numbers. Crooks came out of the woodwork, and we know where that's gotten us. The EITC is a godsend for many working families and each year lifts millions of children above poverty level. And I think it's a lot better than welfare when people got money for doing nothing. That said, it doesn't belong in the tax system. The welfare workers are trained in determining eligibility for various benefits and helping people gather the documentation needed for proof. Tax professionals have learned what questions to ask as part of due diligence but are not required to examine things like birth certificates and school records. We should do people's tax returns which they can then take to their local welfare office to apply for EITC. Let the real experts in that sort of thing do that job. Congress will never agree because they have worked so hard to separate "welfare" from the EITC. It plays better with voters that way.

I think we are onto something here. Tax preparation should be handled by tax preparers, and public assistance should be handled by public-employee social workers. Everybody being able to just do their job would probably increase efficiency and put the responsibility where it belongs.