@cberistain wrote:
she is. not my dependent. she is retired and living about 90 miles from us
She can still be your tax dependent if you meet the tests I mentioned above. She can be any age, and does not have to live with you. You must pay more than 50% of her total living expenses (including health care, rent and everything else); and she must have less than $5050 of taxable income. Social Security (disability) is usually not taxable, if that is her only income. But if she has a pension, then she might have more taxable income. And social security counts as "support" that she provides to herself, and you would have to provide more than half her total support, when counting all her sources of financial support.
If she is not your tax dependent, the costs would be gifts reported on a 709.
