Yes, you
can claim your Son if he meets the requirements stated below. Since he had income he must also file a Tax Return. When he files he must specify that he is Someone else's Dependent. This will allow you to keep the Exemptions and dependent claim for him:
Five
tests must be met for a child to be your qualifying child. The five tests are:
- Relationship
- Age
- Residency
- Support
- Joint return
Since
he is your son he meet the Relationship
requirement.
To
meet the Age requirement he must be:
- Under age 19 at the
end of the year and younger than you (or your spouse, if filing jointly),
- A student under age
24 at the end of the year and younger than you (or your spouse, if filing
jointly), or
- Permanently and
totally disabled at any time during the year, regardless of age.
The
meet the Support Requirement the child
can not have provided more than half of his or
her support throughout the Tax Year.
The
Joint Return Requirement can be a bit
complicated but simply put it just means that even if the child qualifies as a
dependent for more than one Tax Payer only one
person is allowed to make the claim. The IRS States:
"Sometimes,
a child meets the relationship, age, residency, support, and joint return tests
to be a qualifying child of more than one person. Although the child is a
qualifying child of each of these persons, only one person can actually treat
the child as a qualifying child to take all of the following tax benefits
(provided the person is eligible for each benefit).
- The exemption for the
child.
- The child tax credit.
- Head of household filing status.
- The credit for child and dependent care expenses.
- The exclusion from income for dependent care benefits.
- The earned income credit.
The other
person can’t take any of these benefits based on this qualifying child. In
other words, you and the other person can’t agree to divide these benefits
between you. The other person can’t take any of these tax benefits for a child
unless he or she has a different qualifying child."
