Are you married to the father of the child? If so, you do not claim your spouse as a dependent. If you live in the same household then you can only file as Married Filing Jointly or Married Filing Separately. You would want to file as MFJ even if one spouse had little or no income. You receive the highest standard deduction of $12,600 and you each receive a personal exemption of $4,000. The Social Security benefits your spouse receives, shown on Form SSA-1099, are reported on your joint tax return.
If you are not married to the father of the child, then you may be able to claim the father as a dependent if he lives in your home for the entire year and he has gross income of less than$4,000 (social security does not count for income). Plus you need to provide over one-half of his support.
You do not enter a dependent child's social security benefits on your tax return. If the child has no other income they do not report the benefits received on a tax return.
Here are the rules for claiming a child using the Qualifying Child rules who is under the age of 19 or a full time student under the age of 24 as a dependent -
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.
Here are the rules for claiming a relative who is not a Qualifying Child or a non-relative as a dependent -
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 $4,000 (social security does not count) in 2015
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.
