I support my 40 year old daughter and 18 year old granddaughter, neither of them work. I pay for everything. Can I use them as dependents on my taxes?
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You can claim your daughter and your granddaughter if you provided more than half of their support for the year and they met all other requirements listed in the link below to be claimed as Qualifying child or Qualifying relative.
You should be able to claim them as dependents on your tax return if they meet all the requirements to be dependents under the rules.
Your daughter can be claimed under the Qualifying Relative 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 $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.
Your grandchild can be claimed under the Qualifying Child rules -
To be a Qualifying Child -
1. The child must be your son, daughter, stepchild, foster child, brother, sister, half brother, half sister, stepbrother, stepsister, or a descendant of any of them.
2. The child must be (a) under age 19 at the end of the year, (b) under age 24 at the end of the year and a full-time student or (c) any age and permanently and totally disabled.
3. The child must have lived with you for more than half of the year. Temporary absences while away at college are considered living with you.
4. The child must not have provided more than half of his or her own support for the year.
5. If the child meets the rules to be a qualifying child of more than one person, you must be the person entitled to claim the child as a qualifying child.
6. The child must be a U.S. citizen or U.S., Canada or Mexico resident for some portion of the year.
7. The child must be younger than you unless disabled.
IRS interview to help determine who can be claimed:
https://www.irs.gov/help/ita/who-can-i-claim-as-a-dependent
You may be able to claim your daughter as a qualified relative, and your granddaughter as a qualified child. And you should be able to file for HOH filing status (unless you are filing a joint return with a spouse).
WHO CAN I CLAIM AS A DEPENDENT?
You can claim a child, relative, friend, or fiancé (etc.) as a dependent on your 2024 taxes as long as they meet the following requirements:
Qualifying child
Qualifying relative
When you add someone as a dependent, we'll ask a series of questions to make sure you can claim them. There may be other tax benefits you can get when you claim a dependent.
Related Information:
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