It depends -
Yes, you may be able to claim your mother as a
dependent if she meets the test as described below
However, since she does meet the Green
Card Test during the calendar year but do not meet the substantial presence test for that year, her residency starting date is the first day on which you are present in the United States as a Lawful Permanent Resident. Therefore, she will need to file a dual-status return for 2017 to report any income that she has.
As
a dual status alien, she will need to report any US-sourced income form the period before here US residencey started (on a Form 1040NR - as a statement attached to Form 1040) and report worldwide income from the date her residency started to the end of the calendar year on Form 1040.
TurboTax
does not support dual status filings and they can be quite complicated.
In either case, she will
need a valid Social Security Number (SSN) or Individual Taxpayer Identification
Number (ITIN), to claim her as a dependent. To apply for an Individual
Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) using Form W-7 (Click ITIN). Click
this link for the IRS website ITIN
- Frequently Asked Questions
According to the IRS:
- You can’t claim any
dependents if you (or your spouse, if filing jointly) could be claimed as
a dependent by another taxpayer.
- You can’t claim a married
person who files a joint return as a dependent unless that joint return is
filed only to claim a refund of withheld income tax or estimated tax
paid.
- You can’t claim a person as a
dependent unless that person is a U.S. citizen, U.S. resident alien, U.S.
national, or a resident of Canada or Mexico.
- You can’t claim a person as a
dependent unless that person is your qualifying child or qualifying
relative.
You could claim your
elderly parents as dependents even if they don't live with you for the entire
year as long as they meet the qualifying relative test:
An individual must meet all 4 of these requirements in
order to be considered your Qualifying Relative:
- 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
- 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.)
- Gross
Income: The person must have made less than $4,000 in gross
income during 2016.
- Support: You must
have provided more than half of the individual's total support during the
year
Click this link for
more additional information about claiming
a dependent
Click this link for
more additional information about claiming
elderly parents as dependents
