Does anyone know if I can claim my in laws if 1. they pay taxes, and 2 my father in law has an IRA, and they have lived with us all year and we pay for the bills,etc

It depends. If the person you are trying to claim meets the qualifying requirements of a qualifying child or a qualifying relative, then you can claim them as a dependent. Below you will find the basic qualifiers: 

 

To determine if the individual is your qualifying child, the following questions must be true:

 

• The child must be related to you. 
• The child can’t be claimed as a dependent by someone else. 
• The child must be a U.S. citizen, resident alien, national, or a Canadian or Mexican resident. 
• If the child is married, they can’t file a joint return with their spouse. 
• The child must be under the age of 19 (or 24 for full-time students). 
  • No age limit for permanently and totally disabled children. 
• The child must have lived with you for more than half the year (exceptions apply). 
• The child didn't provide more than half of their own support for the year. 

 

 

If the individual doesn’t qualify as your qualifying child, you may be able to claim them as your qualifying relative. The following questions must be true:

 

• The individual can’t be claimed as a dependent by someone else. 
• The individual must be a U.S. citizen, resident alien, national, or a Canadian or Mexican resident. 
• If the individual is married, they can’t file a joint return with their spouse
• The individual  must live with you all year.
• The individual  can’t have made more than $5,050 in income in 2024.
• You must provide more than half of their total support for the year.

 

 Please review the TurboTax Help article Who can I claim as my dependent?

If they are filing a joint tax return you cannot claim them.   Or if either of them had more than $5050 of income in 2024--not counting Social Security---you cannot claim them.   You mention that FIL has a retirement account---money he takes from that account counts toward the $5050 limit.

 

IRS interview to help determine who can be claimed:

https://www.irs.gov/help/ita/who-can-i-claim-as-a-dependent

 

 

Qualifying relative

• They don't have to be related to you (despite the name).
• They aren't claimed as a dependent by someone else.
• They're a U.S. citizen, resident alien, national, or a Canadian or Mexican resident.
• They aren’t filing a joint return with their spouse.
• They lived with you the entire year (exceptions apply).
• They made less than $5050 in 2024 (not counting Social Security)
• You provided more than half of their financial support.

When you add someone as a dependent, we'll ask a series of questions to make sure you can claim them. There may be other tax benefits you can get when you claim a dependent.

Related Information:

• What does "financially support another person" mean?