<prompt> Human: We have 75 custody of a dependent. The mother made a statement that sounded as if she might be trying to claim the dependent anyway, however, we filed according to the law yes, custody papers show primary custody. No, there is no tax deduction override wording. We used EFile. It was our assumption the claim would be rejected if the SSN had already been utilized, and then we would know immediately she had claimed the dependent, and to move forward with a paper claim submitting documentation as required we have already been through this process once before, she already has one tax lien due to illegally claiming in another year. We have received email notifications that the IRS has accepted the return. However, a week later, claim tracking is basically stalled. The Wheres My Refund tracker says something akin to dont bother for 21 days, if you dont hear anything after that point you can call the IRS to see whats up. Does this mean we will need to wait 21 days to know if the claim was fully accepted? Does the auto-email saying IRS accepted our claim mean it was fully accepted, or does that just mean yeah, we got it, well take a look at things. Will we get a notice if it is rejected in the interim?Yes, I tried to call the IRS. They said wait 21 days. Yes, we tried to call EFile. They apparently dont know much at all about the various acceptance and rejection steps within their own software system. Im hoping someone here either has experience, or can point us to a better number within the IRS that can let us know whether we indeed did beat the mother to the punch on claiming this dependent.  <response>: Step 1: wait 21 days. Step 2: If both you and the mother claimed him, you both will receive a letter from the IRS notifying you that the same dependent was claimed by each of you and that one of you will need to amend their return. It could be several months after filing that you receive this letter. The mother is the one responsible for amending since she inaccurately claimed a dependent. If she doesnt amend by the deadline, you may receive another letter where youll send in your documentation that you have primary custody. This will take time, just wait it out. Edit: to answer your question about eFile rejecting: I believe Ive seen people mention that theyve had to file paper forms because someone else claimed one of their dependents but I dont know for sure. 