Hi, Cindytax,
You don't quite give us enough information to answer, so let me give you some more information about dependents, and see if you have enough to figure it out from there.
Dependents include Qualifying Children QC and "Qualifying Relatives" in IRS vernacular (even though they don't have to actually be related). There is no income limit for a QC but there is an age limit, a relationship test and residence test.
For both types of dependents, you'll need to answer the following questions to determine if you can claim them.
- Are they a citizen or resident? The person must be a U.S. citizen, a U.S. national, U.S. resident, or a resident of Canada or Mexico. Many people wonder if they can claim a foreign-exchange student who temporarily lives with them. The answer is maybe, but only if they meet this requirement. There are certain exceptions for adopted children.
- Are you the only person claiming them as a dependent? You can't claim someone who is claimed as a dependent on another tax return. You also can't claim a person who states that they are not able to be claimed as a dependent on their own tax return (takes a personal exemption for himself). Finally, a dependent cannot claim another person as a dependent on their own tax form. These requirements commonly apply to children of divorced parents. There are certain “tie breaker rules,” which are found in IRS Publication 501. These rules establish income, parentage, and residency requirements for claiming a child.
- Are they filing a joint return? You can't claim someone who's married and files a joint tax return. Say you support your married teenage son. If he files a joint return with his spouse, you can't claim him as a dependent. (This rule doesn't apply if the dependent files a joint return only to claim a refund of income tax withheld or any estimated tax paid.).
Once you have met those tests, you can move on to the next tests, which are excerpted from this article:
Qualifying child
In addition to the qualifications above, to claim a qualifying child, you must be able to answer "yes" to all of the following questions.
- Are they related to you? The child can be your son, daughter, stepchild, eligible foster child, brother, sister, half-brother, half-sister, stepbrother, stepsister, adopted child or an offspring of any of them.
- Do they meet the age requirement? Your child must be under age 19 or, if a full-time student, under age 24. There's no age limit if your child is permanently and totally disabled.
- Do they live with you? Your child must live with you for more than half the year, but several exceptions apply.
- Do you financially support them? Your child may have a job, but they cannot provide more than half of their own support.
Note, for the support test, if the loan is in his name, it may impact the support question. This worksheet is designed to help you make that determination and you can learn more here.
Hope this helps.
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Regards,
Karen
TurboTax Expert
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