Yes, You can claim Foster children as a dependents as long as they are placed in your care by a placement agency, court order, or any government agency.
Five tests must be met for a child to be your qualifying child. The five tests are:
In your case as long as you were ordered by a government agency to care for the child(ren) you have passed the Relationship test,
The Age requirements are as follows
The Residency requirement is also met because the child was under your care and financial support for more than half of the year.
To meet the Support test the child cannot provide more than half of her support for the period in question.
The IRS Rules for Personal Exemptions and Dependents are very detailed. To view the rules and tests for dependency please click on the following link:
IRS Personal Exemptions and Dependents
Here you will be able to view in detail every specific aspect which may apply to you’re the status of your Personal exemptions and Dependents.
Yes, You can claim Foster children as a dependents as long as they are placed in your care by a placement agency, court order, or any government agency.
Five tests must be met for a child to be your qualifying child. The five tests are:
In your case as long as you were ordered by a government agency to care for the child(ren) you have passed the Relationship test,
The Age requirements are as follows
The Residency requirement is also met because the child was under your care and financial support for more than half of the year.
To meet the Support test the child cannot provide more than half of her support for the period in question.
The IRS Rules for Personal Exemptions and Dependents are very detailed. To view the rules and tests for dependency please click on the following link:
IRS Personal Exemptions and Dependents
Here you will be able to view in detail every specific aspect which may apply to you’re the status of your Personal exemptions and Dependents.
Someone else claimed my foster child I had in my house for 14 months. How do I get this corrected?
Someone else claimed my foster kids for last year. I claimed them for half a year. I received a letter from the IRS. But I meet all the rules for qualifying. Am I alright?
Explain more. You cannot claim a child for "half a year." They are either your dependent for the entire tax year, or they are not your dependent. How long did they live with you?
If the foster child was in your home for 6 months + 1 day you can claim the child.
If the child was born in the current tax year, then it would be 1/2 their life +1 day.
You don't get it corrected. If you meet all the qualifications to claim the child, as listed in the answer below, you file a return claiming the child. If the other person already e-filed claiming the child, you will have to file on paper and by mail. The IRS will review both returns and make a decision as to who gets to claim the child. The person who did not qualify WILL HAVE TO PAY BACK ANY REFUND RECEIVED for the dependent. They'll contact you by mail but it will take up to a year, possibly longer.
You cannot claim any dependent for half a year; you can only claim dependents for a full year. If you meet all the qualifications for a full-year dependent, you'll be fine. If not, the IRS will correct your return and send you a bill for any refund due back to them.
@Stinkerbellkity is correct. You can not claim a dependent for 1/2 the year, only for a full year. If however there is a dispute on who is eligible to claim the child, you need to prove you’re entitled to claim the dependent.
What To Do When Someone Fraudulently Claims Your Dependent
For the support does the monthly subsidy/reimbursement provided by the state count as the child providing support?
No. Payments received by a state agency are counted as the child's total support but are not counted as support provided by the foster parent or the child.
Two other important things to note:
(1) Payments received from state or local governments are generally not included in the taxpayer's income.
(2) An exemption may be claimed for a foster child only if the child is a qualifying child or a qualifying relative. (See the link below)
Per Irs.gov
Residency
therefore, you can claim a foster child that has lived with you for 6 months +1 day
Yes, to claim an exemption for your foster children if you must be able to answer "yes" to all of the following questions.
Are they related to you? The child can be your son, daughter, stepchild, eligible foster child, brother, sister, half brother, half sister, stepbrother, stepsister, adopted child or an offspring of any of them.
Do they meet the age requirement? Your child must be under age 19 or, if a full-time student, under age 24. There is no age limit if your child is permanently and totally disabled.
Do they live with you? Your child must live with you for more than half the year, but several exceptions apply.
Do you financially support them? Your child may have a job, but that job cannot provide more than half of her support.
Are you the only person claiming them? This requirement commonly applies to children of divorced parents.
This link Rules for Claiming a Dependent on Your Tax Return has information you may find helpful.
How does theraputic foster care come in to play? I have a friend whos son has been in theraputic foster care twice. The first time the family did not claim him. He was paced there by the parent through a private charity that helps with mental issues. The second time he filed his son as he did the last time but this time the theraputic foster parents wanted to claim him and filed him after the parent did.
The rules are the same for Therapeutic Foster Care. The person/persons who meet the tests as outlined above get(s) to claim the child. In the case of the foster care claim, whether the child was placed by a court order, placement agency, or government agency is also a factor. If two people make a claim for the same dependent the IRS will send letters to each asking for documentation to prove their claim.
Foster baby born on 5/30/20. Placed with us 6/1/20. If we have her through the rest of year. Can we claim her on next years tax filing? Technically we would have her for 30 weeks in 2020 which is more than half a year if you go by weeks
Yes, you can claim the child. The rule is: "The child must have lived with you for more than half of the year".
IRS Publication 501, Page 11.
My nephew was placed with us on sept 30th, however through out this year but we have taken care of him over 6 months would I still be able to claim him even though he was not legally placed until 09/30?
@Batyari wrote:
My nephew was placed with us on sept 30th, however through out this year but we have taken care of him over 6 months would I still be able to claim him even though he was not legally placed until 09/30?
Yes. If he meets the other requirements for a Qualifying Child. A nephew does not need to be a foster child to meet the requirements.
---Tests To Be a Qualifying Child---
(Must pass ALL of these tests)
NOTE: If a child passes all of these tests he must say “yes” on his/her own tax return (if he/she files one) that another taxpayer CAN claim him/her as a dependent even if they DO NOT claim him/her)
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 2019, (b) under age 24 at the end of 2019 and a full-time student* for any part of 5 months of 2019, or (c) any age if permanently and totally disabled and must be younger than you (or your spouse if filing jointly).
3. The child must have lived with you for more than half of the year (There are exceptions for temporary absences such as school, illness, business, vacation, military service).
4. The child must not have provided more than half of his or her own support for the year.
See Worksheet 3-1. Worksheet for Determining Support
https://www.irs.gov/publications/p17#en_US_2019_publink1000171012
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 is not filing a joint return.
7. The child must be a U.S. citizen, U.S. resident alien, U.S. national, or a resident of Canada or Mexico
*A full-time student is a student who is enrolled for the number of hours or courses the school considers to be full-time attendance during some part of each of any 5 calendar months of the year.
See IRS Publication 17 for more information.
https://www.irs.gov/publications/p17
what about a foster child that's a newborn. born 10/31, came to me 11/5? please let me know the answer assuming they are with me through the end of the tax year, as well as if they are moved at some point in mid-december to kinship placement (but would have spent more than half their life during this tax year with me)?
if i am a single parent to this foster child, does this also mean i can claim head of household?
@ctkap: Can you claim the foster child as your dependent (qualifying child)? Yes. Please note the following excerpt taken from the following IRS website: IRS Qualifying Child FAQs
Given your facts, the child will have lived with you for more than half of the year it was alive in the year it was born. Provided you have proper foster-care documentation proving that the child was placed with you, you will be allowed to claim your foster child.
Can you claim Head of Household? Maybe. This link provides more information on this: Do I qualify for Head of Household in 2020? There is an additional link inside that a qualifying dependent can include foster children that have lived with you at least half of the year. You appear to qualify on the residency portion of the test for Head of Household, and the question will be if you qualify on the remaining tests.
What if the foster child(ren) have had multiple placements and no one had them for 6 months. However we had them the longest of all the placements during 2020, and still currently have placement?
If the child did not live with anyone more then half the year, then nobody can claim. Physically living with the taxpayer more than 183 nights in the tax year is a requirement to claim a qualifying child.
I'm wondering if anyone can help clarify a question on the support topic. The state/county provides regular payments for our foster child. Should we count this towards the rule of "child provides 50% of their support?" In our case, those payments would definitely be more than 50% of what the child needs, so I'm hesitant to claim them as a dependent based on that. However, if those should not be counted, the "child" doesn't provide anything directly and would be a dependent.
@kayedward02 wrote:
I'm wondering if anyone can help clarify a question on the support topic. The state/county provides regular payments for our foster child. Should we count this towards the rule of "child provides 50% of their support?" In our case, those payments would definitely be more than 50% of what the child needs, so I'm hesitant to claim them as a dependent based on that. However, if those should not be counted, the "child" doesn't provide anything directly and would be a dependent.
Money that the state pays is support provided by others. Support provided by the child must be the child's own money from working, loans, investment income, etc.
See Worksheet 3-1. Worksheet for Determining Support
https://www.irs.gov/publications/p17#en_US_2020_publink1000171012