Rent paid is a personal living expense and is not tax deductible.
If I correctly understand your question, it appears that you are sending money to your parents each month to pay their mortgage or assist with other living expenses. If this is correct, depending on whether the amount you send to them is more than half of their total support, you may be able to claim your parents as dependents on your tax return.
A parent does not have to live with you in your household to be a dependent. The following conditions apply to each parent separately:
- Did they each make less than $4,050 in 2016? Your relative cannot have a gross income of more than $4,050 in 2016 and be claimed by you as a dependent.
- Do you financially support them? You must provide more than half of your relative’s total support each year.
- Are you the only person claiming them? This means you can’t claim the same person twice, once as a qualifying relative and again as a qualifying child. It also means you can’t claim a relative—say a cousin—if someone else, such as his parents, also claim him.
- Is the relative is a U.S.
citizen, a U.S. national, a resident alien, or a resident of Canada or
Mexico?
For more information on claiming dependents, please see IRS Pub. 501 Exemptions,
Standard Deduction, and Filing Information.
