@jayjh97 wrote:
The child will still be my dependent, I just need to know how to list him. Other Dependent? or Sibling? For tax purposes they have you list a foster child as you would your own child so does that mean I am supposed to list this child as my sibling? Or just list him as another dependent?
Your foster sibling is an "other dependent" if they meet the rules.
While the law allows a taxpayer to claim a foster child as a qualifying child dependent, the law does not allow a taxpayer to claim a foster sibling as a qualifying child dependent, and you can't create a legal relationship by linking through the parents, even if you also claim them. The relationship test for qualifying child dependent is,
The child must be your son, daughter, stepchild, foster child, brother, sister, half brother, half sister, stepbrother, or stepsister, or a descendant of any of them.
Foster sibling is not included. Congress would have to change the law.
Your foster sibling may be your qualifying relative dependent ("other dependent" in Turbotax). However, it is important that you understand that the support test is defined differently. To claim a person as a qualifying relative dependent, they must live in your home the entire year, have less than $4400 of taxable income, and you must provide more than half their total financial support. That means you have to add up their total support costs (a proportionate share of joint housing costs--food, rent, utilities, repairs, insurance -- plus their individual costs for clothing, travel, entertainment, medical, education and other expenses) and figure out how much you paid and how much was paid by others (your parents, charity, foster care payments to your parents, other government assistance programs, and so on). Even if you pay more support than anyone else, you can't claim your sibling unless you can prove you paid more than half the total support for your sibling.
Likewise, you have to prove you paid more than half the total financial support for your parents in order to claim them as "qualifying relative" dependents.
See here for rules and worksheets.
https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p501.pdf
