dependent relative

jbowers53 — Fri, 07 Feb 2025 20:24:29 GMT

My wife and I file a joint return. My wife's brother lived with us the entire year and meets the requirements for a qualifying relative, i.e., we provide over half of his support.. He only received social security benefits as income in 2024. While his gross income was over $5,050, he had no taxable income. According to IRS Publication 501, Gross Income test, "Gross income also includes...taxable social security benefits, ..." Since he did not have taxable social security benefits I am reading this that I can include him as a dependent on our tax return. Am I correct?

Re: dependent relative

DoninGA — Fri, 07 Feb 2025 20:26:05 GMT

Correct. He did not have gross income of $5,050 or more in 2024.

To be a Qualifying Relative -

1. The person cannot be your qualifying child or the qualifying child of any other taxpayer. A child is not the qualifying child of any other taxpayer if the child's parent (or any other person for whom the child is defined as a qualifying child) is not required to file an income tax return or files an income tax return only to get a refund on income tax withheld.
2. The person either (a) must be related to you or (b) must live with you all year as a member of your household.
3. The person's gross income for the year must be less than $5,050 (social security does not count) in 2024
4. You must provide more than half of the person's total support for the year.
5. The person must be a U.S. citizen or a U.S., Canada, or Mexico resident for some part of the year.
6. The person must not file a joint return with their spouse with the following exception -
You can claim a person as a dependent who files a joint return if that person and that person’s spouse file the joint return only to claim a refund of income tax withheld or estimated tax paid.

topic dependent relative in Deductions & credits

dependent relative

Re: dependent relative