First you must determine if your daughter is a child dependent or a qualified relative dependant. She is your child dependant IF she is under the age of 19 or IF she is a full time student under the age of 24. If not, then she could be potentially claimed as a "qualified relative" dependant if she meets those requirements. Either category has their stipulations.
She's gotta meet all six of the following stipulations to be claimed as your child dependant -
Relationship: The person must be your daughter, son, stepdaughter, stepson, foster child, sister, brother, half-sister, half-brother, stepsister, stepbrother, or a descendant of any of these, such as a niece or nephew.
2.Age: They must be one of the following: 1.Under the age of 19 on the last day of the year and younger than you (and your spouse if filing jointly)
2.A full-time student under the age of 24 on the last day of the year and younger than you (and your spouse if filing jointly)
3.Permanently disabled at any time during the year, regardless of their age
3.Support: They must have not provided more than half of his or her own support for the year (regardless of who did provide the support). Support includes food, actual or fair rental value of housing, clothing, transportation, medical expenses, and recreation.
4.Residency: They must have lived with you for more than half of the year, except for temporary absences.
5.Joint Return: They must not file a joint tax return for the year (if he or she is married).
6.Qualifying Child of More Than One Person: If they could be a qualifying child for more than one person, you must be the person who is entitled to claim the child.
If your daughter doesn't meet those requirements for the child dependent, she could possibly be in the category of a "qualified relative" dependent for your own tax purposes. Here is the definition for a qualified relative - "A Qualifying Relative is a person who meets the IRS requirements to be your dependent for tax purposes. If someone is your Qualifying Relative, then you can claim them as a dependent on your tax return. Despite the name, a Qualifying Relative does not necessarily have to be related to you."
That said, here are the stipulations for a "qualifying relative" -
An individual must meet all 4 of these requirements in order to be considered your Qualifying Relative.
1.Not a Qualifying Child: The individual cannot be your Qualifying Child and cannot be someone else's Qualifying Child. They are a Qualifying Child if they meet all the requirements, whether or not they are claimed as a dependent.
2.Relationship: The person must either have lived with you for the entire year as a member of the household (a person who is not actually related to you may meet the requirements in this way), or be related to you in one of the following ways: your child, stepchild, grandchild or other descendant of one of your children (or stepchildren or foster children), son-in-law, daughter-in-law, brother, sister, half brother, half sister, stepbrother, stepsister, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, parent, stepfather, stepmother, father-in-law, mother-in-law, grandparent, and, if related by blood, aunt, uncle, niece, or nephew. Remember that a child whom you legally adopted is always considered to be your child. Also note that, for the purposes of this requirement, divorce or death does not change any relationship which was established by marriage (e.g. son-in-law, daughter-in-law, etc.)
3.Gross Income: The person must have made less than $4,000 in gross income during 2016.
4.Support: You must have provided more than half of the individual's total support during the year.
The sticking point to the stipulations for "qualified resident" is if your daughter's income is over $4k per year, you can't claim her as qualified dependent even if you pay for all her expenses. For example if your daughter has a W2 that shows more than 4k for income and she is no longer a child dependent... you may not be able to claim her as a qualified dependent either.
There may be a special case that I'm not aware of, please double check my advice. I'm just giving you advice on my own personal experience with how my father currently claims my special needs sister that is 36 years old and still lives with him. My sister can be claimed as a qualified relative dependent because she makes less than the $4k minimum income per year, lives with my father 100% of the time, and he covers all of her living expenses. She does not qualify as a child dependent because she is over 19 years of age, and does not meet the 24 or younger student requirement either.
I hope this helps!
Regards.
