Can I claim my son and his family who live with me as "me supporting them" even if he works?

[kandie61]

If I claim support of my son and his family who live with me will that prevent him from filing tax return?

[xmasbaby0]

Please provide some details.   You have not told us anything about your son or his family.   Did your son work or have income in 2021?   How long did he and his family live with you in 2021?

Is your son married?   Is he filing a joint return with his spouse?   What do you mean by his "family?"---- does he have children that live with him?

[ThomasM125]

He can file a return if you claim him or his children as dependents, but it may affect his filing status and income tax.

Your son would have to be under 19 years old or under 24 and be a full-time student to qualify for a dependent credit as your child. You may be able to claim his as an "Other Dependent" if he earned less than $4,300. In either case, you would have to furnish over half of his support for the year. Since you said he works, then you probably can't claim him as a dependent.

The same qualifications would apply to your grandchildren who live with you. The main factor there would be if you provided over half of their support. If he is married or living with someone, that person could possible qualify as an other dependent, but probably not since you would have to furnish over half of that person's support.

[Opus 17]

The short answer is that you can list them in your tax return as people you support, and answer all of the interview questions very carefully. TurboTax will tell you whether or not you can claim them as dependents.

Then long answer is probably no, and maybe.  

You can’t claim your son as a dependent unless he is a full-time student under the age of 24, or his taxable income for the year was $4300 or less, and you provided more than half his total support.  If you do claim your son as a dependent, then he can’t claim any dependents on his tax return, so you would also have to claim any of his children as your dependents, if you qualify.  He would still file a tax return in his own name for income he earns, but he would have to check the box for “yes, I can be claimed as a dependent by someone else.“ This will affect his eligibility for certain tax items.

If your son is living in your home with a domestic partner— either a girlfriend or boyfriend or spouse – you can’t claim them as a dependent unless you paid more than half of their total financial support, and they lived in your home the entire year, and their income was less than $4300.  If your son‘s partner is also the parent of any children, that person also has a higher priority to claim the children as dependents than you do.

You can claim your grandchildren as dependents if you have their father‘s permission, and if they lived in your home at least half the year, and if your taxable income is higher than the father‘s taxable income.  If there is more than one grandchild, it is possible that you and your son might agree to split the grandchildren.

If the family members include people who are not your biological grandchildren and who are not your biological step grandchildren by marriage—such as, for example, the children of his domestic partner by another parent—then you can only claim them as dependents if their other parent can’t qualify to claim them, and they lived in your home for the entire year, and you paid more than half their total support.

In situations where a child lives with their parent and their own children, it can sometimes be beneficial for the grandparents to claim the children as dependents, or for the child and the parent to share the children as dependents.  Figuring out the best way to file under your specific circumstances would require that you test different combinations.  Because of the way the pandemic stimulus payments work, it may be to your advantage for you to claim your grandchildren this year if you did not claim them last year, assuming that you qualify.