Does my infant who suffered a birth injury qualify as disabled?

[kristendandar]

My infant was without oxygen at birth and diagnosed with moderate HIE. He spent a month in the NICU and is developmentally delayed and just diagnosed with Cerbral Palsy (in March 2017). Does he qualify as disabled for tax purposes?

[MargaretL · Accepted solution]

Your child qualifies as a dependent if the doctor certified as such... Per IRS: "You are permanently and totally disabled if you cannot engage in any substantial gainful activity because of your physical or mental condition. A qualified physician must certify that the condition has lasted or can be expected to last continuously for 12 months or more, or that the condition can be expected to result in death".

Please note, however, that "being disabled" doesn't provide you with any additional tax credit/deduction for tax purposes at this point. A special tax break for disabled children is the fact that they qualify as dependents, and qualify for other tax benefits, such as child tax credit, earned income credit no matter how old they are as long as they live at home with their parents.  But it doesn't give you any more money or deductions.