My step-son has high functioning autism but is not signed up for state disability. Should I mark none of the above instead of was disabled?

Do I get a credit or deduction if my child is disabled?

If your child is older than 12 and you need to pay someone to take care of him while you work, you can say he is disabled and you can still get the childcare credit on your federal return.   Or if he is 19 or older you may still be able to claim him as a qualifying child dependent on your federal return.

Aside from those things, there is no federal tax advantage to saying that your child is disabled.   Your state tax laws might be different.

For income tax, "disabled" means unable to perform gainful work (work for money).  If your son can work a minimum wage job, he is not disabled for tax purposes, even though he may have a medical diagnosis.  Because of the focus on gainful work, many people with medical disabilities are not disabled for tax purposes.

Then, even if your son is disabled, it doesn't do anything for your taxes unless he is over 13 and you still need to pay for day care to watch him (because he is unable to care for himself), or he is over 19 and you need to claim him as a dependent. 

I would assume you most likely are referring to the input screen which asks you to indicate whether your child has a disability inorder to claim various credits and deductions. See here  under the Subsection "As a Parent Of A Child With A Disabilty". 

Under those rules, one of the conditions that must be met inorder for your son to considered disabled is that "he cannot engage in any substantial gainful activity because of a physical or mental condition. 

No where is there any rule that suggests that a disabled child must sign up up for any kind of state disability program inorder for him to qualify and consider him to be your dependent 

@megsbug2010

[Edited 01/18/2024|1:30 pm PST]