My son was born in 2017 with stage 4 Chronic Kidney Disease. This is a life long condition. Would he qualify as "disabled" for tax purposes?

[courtneyfarranto]

He does not receive SSI, Medicaid, or Medicare. 

[xmasbaby0 · Accepted solution]

DISABLED CHILD

So sorry to hear about your child's health problems.  There is not any extra tax benefit or deduction to saying that a child under age 13 is disabled on your Federal return.  If you have a disabled child over 12 and need to pay for childcare so you can work, saying the child is disabled can enable you to claim the childcare credit.  Or if the child is 19 or older, you can still claim the disabled child as your dependent.  Otherwise, it does not benefit you to claim that your child is disabled.  Your state tax laws may be different.

Of course, any medical expenses you are paying out of pocket should be entered in Medical Expenses in case you have met the threshold for claiming medical expenses as a deduction.

[courtneyfarranto]

Do you happen to know if it matters if I do or do not mark him as disabled now? Turbo Tax is asking and I don't want to say no if it will come back to bite me in the future when there are extra deductions available.

[xmasbaby0]

No, you do not have to enter anything now.  You can if you just want to, but it is not going to have any effect on your federal tax return.  Your state laws could be different.

[Coleen3]

Being disabled at this age does not qualify you for any extra deductions. Once he is too old to be a qualifying child, in 18 years, you may need this distinction.