You are giving your parents a gift to help them out. Gifts do not go on tax returns as "income" --- in fact gifts are not entered on a tax return at all. And if their only income is Social Security they do not have to file tax returns. Co-signing their lease does not change that. Are you really looking for whether you can claim your parents as your dependents? In order to claim them as dependents you must be able to say you pay for over half their total support. Then you would only get a $500 credit for other dependents for each of them on your own tax return. Claiming them would also make them ineligible to receive a stimulus check. Claiming parents as dependents should not be done without considering the total amount of support you are providing.
CREDIT FOR OTHER DEPENDENTS
https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/4499708-what-is-the-500-credit-for-other-dependents-family-tax-cre...
https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/children-dependents/help/what-does-financially-support-another-per...
GIFTS
Money that you receive as a gift is not taxable income to you, and you do not need to report it on your income tax return. Money that you gave as a gift to someone else is not deductible for your taxes.
Turbo Tax does not support the gift tax form 709, but here is a link:
https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f709.pdf
https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tips/estates/the-gift-tax-made-simple/L5tGWVC8N
https://www.forbes.com/sites/ashleaebeling/2017/10/19/irs-announces-2018-estate-and-gift-tax-limits-...
**Disclaimer: Every effort has been made to offer the most correct information possible. The poster disclaims any legal responsibility for the accuracy of the information that is contained in this post.**
