Dependents are entered in the My Info section located on the left side of the online program screen.

My parents in law are Indian citizens. 

My father-in-law has a resident / green card status & was with us in the USA for > 180days in 2020.  He doesn't however have an SSN & won't apply for one (don't ask me why... huh).

My mother-in-law doesn't have her green card yet (so no SSN, of course with B2 visa status) but has an alien number (A-*) from her ongoing green card application.  She stayed with us for the full year 2020.  

Both have $0 income in the USA, both retired in India a few years ago & have less than $24k income in India.

During their USA stay; we paid for their food, insurance, medical, etc expenses.  

For 2018, with the same statuses, my CPA didn't want me to claim my father-in-law.  CPA didn't elaborate; possibly because of "no SSN".  I moved to TT for 2019 & didn't claim my father-in-law.

Questions:

1. Can I claim my father-in-law without any IRS issues?  Note no SSN for him.

2. Can I claim my mother-in-law without any IRS issues?  Note no green card yet for her.

Thanks...

@hameshatumkochaha  If neither of your parents have a Social Security number or an ITIN issued by the IRS then you cannot claim them as a dependent on your tax return.

To claim a dependent under the Qualifying Relative rules they must meet all the requirements under the rules.

To be a Qualifying Relative -

1. The person cannot be your qualifying child or the qualifying child of any other taxpayer. A child is not the qualifying child of any other taxpayer if the child's parent (or any other person for whom the child is defined as a qualifying child) is not required to file an income tax return or files an income tax return only to get a refund on income tax withheld.
2. The person either (a) must be related to you or (b) must live with you all year as a member of your household.
3. The person's gross income for the year must be less than $4,300 (social security does not count) in 2020
4. You must provide more than half of the person's total support for the year.
5. The person must be a U.S. citizen or a U.S., Canada, or Mexico resident for some part of the year.
6. The person must not file a joint return with their spouse.

in order to claim someone, one of the criteria is that they must be a US Citizen, Resident Alien, US National or a resident of Canada or Mexico

Further, they must live with you ALL YEAR.

Lastly, their income must be less than $4250.  

doesn't appear that they would meet the qualifications of an 'other dependent' which would be a tax credit of no more than $500 to you.  

Thanks both of you for answering.  There is however some difference between the two answers.  Please share each of you the source of your information, ie irs doc #, page # etc

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@NCperson wrote:

in order to claim someone, one of the criteria is that they must be a US Citizen, Resident Alien, US National or a resident of Canada or Mexico

 

Further, they must live with you ALL YEAR.

 

Lastly, their income must be less than $4250.  

 

doesn't appear that they would meet the qualifications of an 'other dependent' which would be a tax credit of no more than $500 to you.  

 

 

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For 2020 the gross income limit is $4,300, not $4,250.

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@hameshatumkochaha wrote:

Thanks both of you for answering.  There is however some difference between the two answers.  Please share each of you the source of your information, ie irs doc #, page # etc

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Look at IRS Pub 17, page 32 "Qualifying Relative".

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p17.pdf

You may want to just run through this tool the IRS has set up - answer a bunch of questions and the tool will pop out the answer - note that it is from the IRS

https://www.irs.gov/help/ita/whom-may-i-claim-as-a-dependent