First of all this may not matter but this is a blended family. The taxpayer and spouse have the same last name.  The 4 children on the return are the children of the spouse.  The children are 20, 18, 16, 12.  There is a 5th child that is a son of the taxpayer and has the same last name.  At this point that child was not included on the return for 2022 and so far is not included on the return for 2023 pending ironing out the filing between the tax payer and the biological mother.  They had a verbal agreement to alternate years to claim the client. This maybe a moot point.

I understand it is confusing so I am trying my best.  There are a couple different people responding so that is making it even more confusing for me.  I have never had such a dificulty filing a return before.