The only tax benefit that you could get for paying your parent's rent and utilities would be to claim them as your dependents. Unfortunately, based on the information that you provided, your parents would fail the income test (and possibly the support test) as described below.
You could claim your elderly parents as dependents
even if they don't live with you for the entire year as long as they meet the
qualifying relative test:
An
individual must meet all 4 of these requirements in order to be considered your
Qualifying Relative:
-
Not a Qualifying Child: The
individual cannot be your Qualifying Child and cannot be someone else's
Qualifying Child. They are a Qualifying Child if they meet all the
requirements, whether or not they are claimed as a dependent
-
Relationship: The person must either have lived
with you for the entire year as a member of the household (a person who is
not actually related to you may meet the requirements in this way), or be
related to you in one of the following ways: your child, stepchild, grandchild
or other descendant of one of your children (or stepchildren or foster
children), son-in-law, daughter-in-law, brother, sister, half brother,
half sister, stepbrother, stepsister, brother-in-law, sister-in-law,
parent, stepfather, stepmother, father-in-law, mother-in-law, grandparent,
and, if related by blood, aunt, uncle, niece, or nephew. Remember that a
child whom you legally adopted is always considered to be your child. Also
note that, for the purposes of this requirement, divorce or death does not
change any relationship which was established by marriage (e.g.
son-in-law, daughter-in-law, etc.)
-
Gross Income: The person must have made less
than $4,000 in gross income during 2016.
-
Support: You must have provided more than
half of the individual's total support during the year
For
additional information about claiming elderly parents as dependents, please
refer to the following link:
https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tools/tax-tips/Family/Steps-to-Claiming-an-Elderly-Parent-as-a-Depen...
