dependent income in community property state

[florafan]

Hi all,

I am single, and my parents live with me in a community property state. My mother has over 10k job salary income in 2019, while my father have 0 income. So could I claim my farther as my dependent? Wehther half of my mother's income will be considered as my farther's gross income? Thanks!

[xmasbaby0]

You say you "live with" your parents.  Whose home is it?  Do they own the home or do you?  You do not say what income your mother has--only that she has income.  Is it from working or does she get Social Security or some other income?  Do they file a joint tax return?  If they can be claimed as your dependents you can only claim one or both of them if they do not file a joint tax return.  If they filed a joint return even on the non-filer site in order to get a stimulus check then they have already filed and your return claiming them will be rejected.  On the other hand, dependents cannot get a stimulus check.  All you "get" for a parent you claim is a $500 credit for other dependents.  You do not receive stimulus money for claiming a parent.  If you can claim them you can file as Head of Household and have a higher standard deduction.

IRS interview to help determine who can be claimed:

https://www.irs.gov/help/ita/who-can-i-claim-as-a-dependent

[Carl]

I am single, and living with my parents

the fact you're in a community property state really doesn't matter to a certain extent. Since you are the one living with your parents, I seriously doubt you are the one supporting either of them. I would expect they are the one's providing you more than 50% of your own support. (But expectations can be wrong.)  How your parents can support themselves *and* you on $10K for the year does raise more questions though. Maybe they have already paid off the mortgage on their home?

Understand that any support they provide you is not figured in cold cash spent only. If you live with them in a home that they own, that has monetary value for your parents. Basically, the support they are providing you would include food, utilities, and the fair market rental value of the space in their home that is exclusive to you. (Generally a bedroom, and can include a bath if that bath is only accessible from the bedroom that is exclusive to you.)

If there's a mortgage involved and your name is not on the mortgage, then you are not legally obligated to pay it. Therefore you can't count/claim that. If your name is not on the property deed then you have no legal claim to the property either and therefore can't deduct things like the property taxes paid on the property - even if you do actually pay those expenses.

Now I'm not trying to contradict or discourage you here. Just pointing out things from an IRS perspective. Here's the issue concerning the stimulus payments.

- If your parent's file joint then together they will qualify for $2400 ($1200 each). You file single and you qualify for $1200

 - If your mother files separate, she qualifies for $1200 and that's it. If you file single and claim your father then you qualify for $1200 and that's it. Your father as a dependent will not qualify you for any additional stimulus money because your father is over the age of 17.

So if your mom files separate and you claim  your dad, you're basically screwing your family as a whole, out of $1200 in stimulus payments.

[TomD8]

"Whether half of my mother's income will be considered as my father's gross income?"

As @xmasbaby0 implied in her answer, the answer to the community property question will depend on the source of your mother's $10K.  Is it from a pension?  Is it Social Security?  Something else?