Claiming parents

[rich5674]

Can me and my wife claim her parents who currently live with us and are on Social Security? That is their only income stream. We pay the mortgage as well as the taxes which is pretty significant. We also pay things like internet

[DoninGA]

You may be able to claim them as your dependents under the Qualifying Relative rules if they meet all the requirements under the rules.

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 $4,700 (social security does not count) in 2023
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.

[Mike9241]

yes you can claim them as dependents assuming you provide over 50% of their support

[NCperson]

@DoninGA @rich5674 

<<The person must not file a joint return with their spouse.>>

The inference here is that the OP can't claim their parents due to the statement above.

However, the OP states that the parents have no income other than SS.  

Therefore, they are NOT filing a joint return; in fact they are not filing a return at all! 

The OP can claim their parents, as long as the other conditions are met.

from publication 501: 

"You can't claim a married person who files a joint return as a dependent unless that joint return is filed only to claim a refund of withheld income tax or estimated tax paid."

Please see page 11 - 2nd bullet: 

www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p501.pdf

[Opus 17]

No inference was made, that's just the rules.

There are two "basic" rules for claiming an adult parent.

1. they can't have more than $5050 of taxable income (even if they don't file).

2. the child must pay more than half the parent's overall support costs.

Social security is not considered taxable income if it is their only income, but it does count as support they provide to themselves, so you have to add up the cost of living (a pro-rated share of your mortgage, food, utilities, other support) plus their personal expenses (clothes, medical, travel) and see if you provide more than half.   There is a chart to help with this in publication 501.

(But beware, if mom plays Bingo or the lottery, and wins more than $5050 over the year, that is gross taxable income even though it does not have to be filed since it below $13,500.)

Then assuming the parents meet the support and gross taxable income test, you still have to be aware that the parents can't file a joint tax return (married filing jointly) (as well as things like must be a US resident, etc.)

We might assume that the parents do not file because they only have social security, but in 2021 they probably filed to get a stimulus check, and the rules might change or there might be other unusual circumstances (like tracking a solar credit carryover that might some day be used, or a one-time sale of property inherited from another relative).  If we assume the parents don't file, we should still state what the rule is.