If your child is totally and permanently disabled, her age does not matter, she can still be considered a qualifying child if she lives with you for more than 6 months of the year and meets the rest of the criteria to be a qualifying child.
As a qualifying child, they cannot provide more than half of their own support. The parents do not have to provide more than half of her support, she just cannot provide more than half of it. Support includes, food, housing, insurance, transportation, medical needs, etc. Here is a worksheet to determine if she does provided more than half of her own support. If you did not claim her in previous years, it is possible that you could go back and amend your return if she otherwise qualifies as your dependent.
The following criteria must be met to claim someone as a qualifying child:
- Your child (including adopted and foster children), your sibling, or a descendent of any of them.
- Age 18 or younger at the end of the tax year OR under 24 (and younger than you and your spouse) if they are a full-time student or totally and permanently disabled
- Lived with you for more than 6 months during the tax year
- They did not provide more than half of their own support
- They did not file a joint return, unless it was to claim a refund
If she did qualify as a dependent in previous years and you did not claim her, you can go back and Amend Your Returns for the past 3 years to claim her as a dependent.
If she DOES provide more than half of her support, then you would need to go back through the answers on your return and double check your answers. If she is not able to be claimed as a dependent, then it is best to delete her from your return.
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