Your parents do not need a form to file your children as dependents. However, your children must meet certain requirements as listed below (including that no one else can claim them):
A
qualifying dependent meets all six of the following conditions:
- Relationship: The person is your child, foster child, adopted child, brother, sister, stepbrother, stepsister or a descendent of one of these (for example, grandchild, niece or nephew).
- Residence: The person lives in your home for more than half the year. If he or she is temporarily absent, that still counts as time living in your home. A temporary absence could be time spent at college or boarding school, or time away for medical care, military service or juvenile detention. Different guidelines apply for children of divorced or separated parents.
- Age: The person is age 18 or under at the end of 2015, or a full-time student age 23 or under. If the person is disabled, there is no age limit.
- Support: The person doesn’t provide more than half of his or her own support.
- Nationality: The person is a U.S. citizen, U.S. resident alien, U.S. national, or a resident of Canada or Mexico. An adopted child who doesn’t meet this requirement but lives with you for the entire year can be your dependent, as long as you’re a U.S. citizen.
- Marital status: Generally, a married dependent can’t file a joint tax return with a spouse. The only exception is when the married dependent files a joint return only to get a refund of taxes paid (no tax credits are received) and, if separate returns are filed, neither the dependent nor spouse would have a tax liability.
