I have a novel question that, hopefully, someone more knowledgeable than me on this can answer. 

A client has lived overseas for several years and has several children with a non-resident spouse. She has a SSN, and she recently applied for and was granted SSNs for her children. However, the kids have always resided overseas with her and her husband. 

I filed a 2020 1040 for her as single, claiming all children as dependents. Since this was her first return since she left the country in 2008, I knew she definitely didn't get any of the EIPs, so she should have had a credit for herself plus her kids. However, the IRS has given her a refund reflecting only the credit for herself. 

Worth noting is that when I attempted to efile this return last year, I got a rejection stating one of the dependent's SSN had already been used for that tax year. Theoretically possible, but very unlikely since she had gotten the SSN for them roughly a month before filing. So I just had her fill out an ID theft affidavit and mailed the return instead. After some correspondence regarding an unrelated matter, she finally received the reduced refund and that's where I am now. 

I called the PPL and was told that the SSNs weren't being recognized. I went over the history with the e-filing and that I had pictures of the SS cards and I've verified them. Then he did some more "research" and came back with the answer that the PATH Act disallows claims for credits when the SSN didn't exist for the tax year in question. I've tried researching this myself and can find no support for it. In fact, since the PATH Act was passed in 2015, I'm not sure how it could even speak to the RRC since it was 5 years prior to the pandemic, unless it was amended to do so and I can't find anything like that. Everything I read about the PATH Act concerns specifically the EIC and education credits. 

If someone can suggest any answer to this or tell me where to find the answer I'd be grateful. I've even looked on Lexis and am still striking out.