Even if a person doesn’t live with you, they can still be a qualifying relative if you’re actually related, and the IRS allows for most of your relatives to qualify. Here’s the list of relatives you can claim as a dependent if you’re supporting them financially, even if you’re not living together:
- A child, stepchild, foster child or any of their descendants
- Any siblings, including full, half and stepsiblings
- Parents, stepparents, grandparents or other direct ancestors, but not a foster parent
- Nieces and nephews (including the children of any half siblings), uncles and aunts
- A son-in-law, daughter-in-law, father-in-law, mother-in-law, brother-in-law or sister-in-law
However, before you start claiming any and all of these on your taxes, note that they would still need to meet the other requirements about their income and how much of their annual expenses you’re responsible for. What’s more, even a qualifying person still can’t be claimed as a dependent if they’re filing a joint return or if they aren’t a U.S. citizen — and you can’t claim a dependent if you yourself are eligible as someone else’s dependent.
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