My mother has lived with us for over a calendar year. I plan on claiming her as a dependent, but there is no way to claim her SSDI or the small pension she receives from my father who passed a few years ago. Do I file a separate tax form with her being claimed as a dependant? She has always had Fed Taxes taken from her SSDI payments and then claimed it for a yearly refund.
You are correct. She would need to file a return reporting the pension and SSDI and indicating she can be claimed as a dependent on someone's return. Likely the SSDI will be non-taxable since you mention a small pension so she should get the withholding refunded.
As for you claiming her as a dependent, below are the rules extracted from Publication 501, Table 5 for you to claim her as a qualifying relative. She will most likely meet tests 1, 2, and 4 but test 3 is challenging and verifiable on her tax return.
Her gross income will likely be her pension, but if any of the SSDI shows as taxable on her return it too counts as gross income.
You are correct. She would need to file a return reporting the pension and SSDI and indicating she can be claimed as a dependent on someone's return. Likely the SSDI will be non-taxable since you mention a small pension so she should get the withholding refunded.
As for you claiming her as a dependent, below are the rules extracted from Publication 501, Table 5 for you to claim her as a qualifying relative. She will most likely meet tests 1, 2, and 4 but test 3 is challenging and verifiable on her tax return.
Her gross income will likely be her pension, but if any of the SSDI shows as taxable on her return it too counts as gross income.