topic Dependent Sibling in Deductions & credits

Dependent Sibling

mmichelemabell — Mon, 09 Mar 2026 05:59:30 GMT

My Sister and her husband are separated. In 2021 she lived with me for 7 months. Her husband stopped all support & made me financially responsible for her. I supported her 100 percent. I filed before he did as Head Of Household, Sister as dependent. Just found out he filed Married Jointly & there's a conflict. What happens now?

Re: Dependent Sibling

ColeenD3 — Wed, 16 Feb 2022 12:56:45 GMT

There are several points to consider. She has to agree to file jointly with him. If he filed that way without her permission, he must have forged her name. File your return including her as a dependent if she qualifies apart from the Joint Return test. You'll have to mail in your return since her social security number has already been used. The IRS will determine who has the right to claim her.

In addition, she must meet several qualifications for you to claim her as a Qualifying Relative.

Qualifying relative

Here is a checklist for determining whether a relative qualifies.

Do they live with you? Your relative must live at your residence all year or be on the list of “relatives who do not live with you” in Publication 501. About 30 types of relatives are on this list.
Do they make less than $4,300 in 2020 or 2021? Your relative cannot have a gross income of more than $4,300 in 2020 or 2021 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 claims him.

You’ll also need to answer the following questions to determine if you can claim them.

Are they a citizen or resident? The person must be a U.S. citizen, a U.S. national, a U.S. resident, or a resident of Canada or Mexico. Many people wonder if they can claim a foreign-exchange student who temporarily lives with them. The answer is maybe, but only if they meet this requirement.
Are you the only person claiming them as a dependent? You can’t claim someone who takes a personal exemption for himself or claims another dependent on his own tax form.
Are they filing a joint return? You cannot claim someone who is married and files a joint tax return. Say you support your married teenage son: If he files a joint return with his spouse, you can’t claim him as a dependent.

Re: Dependent Sibling

Critter-3 — Wed, 16 Feb 2022 12:57:02 GMT

First he cannot file a joint return without your sisters consent... that is tax fraud. So you should alert him that he needs to amend his return ... this action can be used by her divorce attorney.

If your sister had no income then you filed correctly however you will need to paper file the return this year. In the FILE tab switch to the mail in option then the program will provide you with the forms and mailing instructions in the PDF file.

Re: Dependent Sibling

Hal_Al — Wed, 16 Feb 2022 13:03:14 GMT

If she only lived with you for 7 months, there's a chance you didn't provide more than half her support for the entire year.

The IRS has a worksheet that can be used to help with the support calculation. See: http://apps.irs.gov/app/vita/content/globalmedia/teacher/worksheet_for_determining_support_4012.pdf

The support value of the home, provided by the taxpayer, is the fair market rental value of the home plus utilities & other expenses divided by the number of occupants.