Your two possibilities to claim a dependent are as follows:
You may be able to claim your daughter as a Qualifying Child if:
- The child must be related to you. The child can be your son, daughter, stepchild, eligible foster child, brother, sister, half-brother, half-sister, stepbrother, stepsister, adopted child or an offspring of any of them.
- Your child must be under age 19 or, if a full-time student, under age 24. There is no age limit if your child is permanently and totally disabled.
- Your child must live with you for more than half the year, but several exceptions apply (ie. away at school).
- The child cannot provide more than half of his/her support.
- You must be the only person claiming the child
- The child must be a US citizen, resident alien, national, or resident of Mexico or Canada.
- The child cannot file a joint return with his or her spouse.
You may be able to claim your daughter as a Qualifying Relative dependent if:
- You provided more than half of her support in 2016
- She earned less than $4,050 in gross taxable income. (Social Security income generally doesn’t count here.)
- She lives with you (365 days in the year) or is related to you.
- She isn’t a dependent on someone else’s taxes.
- She isn’t filing a tax return with a spouse (married filing jointly).
- She is a U.S. citizen, resident alien, national, or a Canadian or Mexican resident
You can’t claim a dependent if you are a dependent on someone else’s taxes
See Rules For Claiming Dependents
The rules above apply even if your daughter works.
If you are eligible to claim her per the above, your daughter cannot claim herself on her own tax return.
