Can I CLAIM my mental retarded nephew that I HAVE legal guardianship of as a dependent ?

[diannelangston96]

Im trying to file him but it  say he is not eligible for tax credit.

[macuser_22]

Was he no older than  16 at the end of 2020?

Does he meet these 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 2020, (b) under age 24 at the end of 2020 and a full-time student* for any part of 5 months of 2020, 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_2020_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

[DMarkM1]

Below are the criteria for the child tax credit.  If he qualifies as your dependent, but not the child tax credit it is most likely due to his age.  He must be under age 17 even if disabled. The other qualifier is he must have lived with you for more than 1/2 the year.  Be sure to check your dependent answers in the "My info" section against this criteria. 

• Taxpayers who are eligible to claim this credit must list the name and Social Security number for each dependent on their tax return.
• The child must be younger than 17 on the last day of the tax year, generally Dec 31.
• The child must be the taxpayer’s son, daughter, stepchild, foster or adopted child, brother, sister, stepbrother, stepsister, half-brother or half-sister. An adopted child includes a child lawfully placed with them for legal adoption. They can also include grandchildren, nieces or nephews.
• The child must have not provided more than half of their own support for the year.
• The taxpayer must claim the child as their dependent on their federal tax return.
• The child cannot file a tax return for the same year with the status married filing jointly, unless the only reason they are filing is to claim a refund.
• The child must be a U.S. citizen, a U.S. national or a U.S. resident alien.
• In most cases, the child must have lived with the taxpayer for more than half of 2020.
• In some cases, a taxpayer qualifies and gets less than the full credit. These taxpayers must have earned income of at least $2,500 to  receive a refund, even if they owe no tax, with the additional child tax credit.