Can I claim my boyfriend as someone I support? We own our house together and live there together. His only 2021 income was stimulus check. i pay for food and shelter

[LeonardS · Accepted solution]

You can claim your boyfriend if he meets 4 of these requirements in order to be considered as a Qualifying Relative/Adult.

1. Not a Qualifying Child: The individual cannot be your Qualifying Child and cannot be someone else's Qualifying Child.

2. Relationship: The person must either have lived with you for the entire year as a member of the household (a person who is not actually related to you may meet the requirements in this way), OR be related to you in one of the following ways:

·         Your child, stepchild, grandchild or other descendant of one of your children (or stepchildren or foster children). A child whom you legally adopted is always considered to be your child.

·         Your son-in-law, daughter-in-law, brother-in-law, sister-in-law

·         Your brother, sister, half-brother, half-sister, stepbrother, stepsister

·         Your parent, stepfather, stepmother, father-in-law, mother-in-law, grandparent, and, if related by blood, aunt, uncle, niece, or nephew (Also note that, for the purposes of this requirement, divorce or death does not change any relationship which was established by marriage (e.g. son-in-law, daughter-in-law, etc.)

3. Gross Income: The person must have made less than $4,300 in gross income during 2021.

4. Support: You must have provided more than half of the individual's total support during the year.

You will also need to answer the following questions to determine if you can claim them.

• Are they a citizen or resident? The person must be a U.S. citizen, a U.S. national, U.S. resident, or a resident of Canada or Mexico. Many people wonder if they can claim a foreign-exchange student who temporarily lives with them. The answer is maybe, but only if they meet this requirement.
• Are you the only person claiming them as a dependent? You can’t claim someone who takes a personal exemption for himself or claims another dependent on his own tax form.
• Are they filing a joint return? You cannot claim someone who is married and files a joint tax return. Say you support your married teenaged son: If he files a joint return with his spouse, you can’t claim him as a dependent.