Can I claim my son who has been serving a full-time mission for our church and I have paid all of his living expenses?

[jhorne71]

He has been living in a different state for almost 2 years now serving his mission.

[Hal_Al]

Probably not.

There are two types of dependents, "Qualifying Children"(QC) and standard ("Qualifying Relative" in IRS parlance even though they don't have to actually be related). There is no income limit for a QC but there is an age limit, a relationship test and residence test. Only a QC qualifies a taxpayer for the Earned Income Credit and the Child Tax Credit. They are interrelated but the rules are different for each.

A child of a taxpayer can still be a “Qualifying Child” (QC) dependent, regardless of his/her income, if:

1. He is under age 19, or under 24 if a full time student for at least 5 months of the year, or is totally & permanently disabled

2. He did not provide more than 1/2 his own support. Scholarships are considered third party support and not as support provided by the student.

3. He lived with the parent (including temporary absences such as away at school) for more than half the year. A church mission might be considered a temporary absence; but not one that has lasted 2 years.

A person can still be a Qualifying relative dependent, if not a Qualifying Child, if he meets the 6 tests for claiming a dependent:

1. Closely Related OR live with the taxpayer ALL year

2. His/her gross taxable income for the year must be less than $4,050 (2016-17)

3. The taxpayer must have provided more than 1/2 his support

In either case:

4. He must be a US citizen or resident of the US, Canada or Mexico

5. He must not file a joint return with his spouse or be claiming a dependent of his own

6. He must not be the qualifying child of another taxpayer

https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tools/tax-tips/Family/Rules-for-Claiming-a-Dependent-on-Your-Tax-Ret...

[zeblon]

The answer is generally no. You may be able to count your son as a dependent in the year he started his mission, and/or the year he ended his mission, if he qualifies as a full-time student for enough months before/after his mission. Think of it this way - you can only count your missionary son as a dependent if you could also have counted him if he had gone fishing instead of serving a mission.

Also, you haven't actually paid all of your son's living expenses, not from a tax perspective. The LDS church asks missionaries or their families to provide a monthly payment to the church each month the individual is serving as a missionary. Although this money is used to help offset the missionary's expenses while serving, the monthly payment is NOT considered support for your child for tax purposes; it is considered a charitable donation.

Legal justification for the assertions made above can be found in We Believe in Being Honest: Dependency Exemptions for LDS Missionaries.

[AmeliesUncle]

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@zeblon wrote:

The answer is generally no.

Why do you say that?

The original question is really old, but if the son's income is under $5050 (2024 amount) and the parent pays for over half of the son's support, in most cases they CAN claim the son as a dependent.

[zeblon]

Many people who think they've paid over half their missionary child's support probably haven't. Remember, the IRS does NOT consider the $400 monthly payment to the church to be support. Health insurance premiums count as support, as does money you send directly to the missionary, but those likely don't add up to more than what the church spends to support your child. The church provides more than half your child's support, you do not.

The article I linked to earlier presents some ways to justify not counting the church's support as support, but even the author considers them a stretch. If you get audited you've got to get the IRS to agree with your interpretation.

My comments earlier today about the first and last year of your child's mission were too strong. You can count them as dependents in those "shoulder" years if you provide more than half their support, regardless of whether they are in school, assuming they don't make too much money. But again, be careful to consider the church's support when deciding whether you've met the 50% support threshold.

[KrisD15]

HERE is an IRS worksheet for determining support.