ALBANY — Nearly 6,000 state income-tax filers tried to claim children they don’t have, deduct phony day-care expenses and improperly claim credits for low-income households, the state’s chief fiscal watchdog said yesterday.

As the clock ticks toward tonight’s filing deadline, state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said he has denied $16.4 million in refunds.

Noting that “most taxpayers play by the rules,” DiNapoli said his office has approved 4.7 million refund requests totaling $4.1 billion, with another 406,000 refunds worth $382 million expected to be paid in the coming days.

DiNapoli said nearly a quarter of the cheaters are linked to dishonest tax preparers filing false returns.

Filers have until midnight tonight to file because April 15 fell on a Sunday and federal offices were closed yesterday for Emancipation Day, which marks President Abraham Lincoln’s freeing of slaves in Washington, DC, on April 16, 1862.