Hardcoded Dependent Residency Prevents Form 1040 Credit for U.S. Expats

Hello ProConnect Community,

I am encountering a system limitation regarding dependent residency for U.S. citizens living abroad, and Support has directed me here to post for a software fix.

The Issue

For a dependent who is a U.S. citizen living abroad with the taxpayer for the entire year:

• Section 5(a) (Lived with taxpayer 6 months and more): Must be marked "Yes".

• Section 5(b) (Months lived in US): Should be left blank or 0 (as they reside abroad).

The Bug

ProConnect's hardcoded logic forces a selection in 5(b) or requires U.S. residency to claim the dependent credit. This creates an impossible choice: either drop a legally allowed credit or input inaccurate data to bypass the system diagnostic.

Per tax law, a U.S. citizen dependent living abroad with a U.S. citizen parent qualifies for the credit. The software should make the U.S. residency field optional, not mandatory.

Request

Tax Pro Support acknowledged this is a hardcoded limitation and advised that it must be upvoted by the community to be fixed. Please upvote this thread so the development team can correct this input logic.

Thank you for your support.