Can my BF claim me & if so can he claim me retroactively?Noelse can claim me & I no income except for Soc. Sec.Dis.We live 2gether 23 yrs n he pays over 50% of my costs.

[chrispy1486]

Didn't know I had more room so I think I summed up all the basics. I'm disabled and have been for about 15 years.I started getting Social Security Disability about 12 years ago.My boyfriend and I have lived together for about 23 years. Since I became disabled he's covered my every expense that my disability check can't every month which is about 65% of my bill's,support, etc. He's never claimed me before. Can he claim me and if he can can he claim me for past years that he didn't but he could have?

[Vanessa · Accepted solution]

Yes, it sounds like he may be able to claim you based on the information you provided. Here is a little more information to help you decide if your situation meets all the criteria:

If all of the following apply then yes, your boyfriend could claim you as a dependent on his return.  The rules for claiming a non-relative as your dependent are as follows:

1. Cannot be claimed as a dependent if you are eligible to be claimed as a dependent on another tax return. Whether you are being claimed is irrelevant, it’s the eligibility that matters. 
2.  Must be a U.S. citizen, resident alien, national, or a resident of Canada or Mexico
3.  Not a “qualifying child” of a taxpayer. 
4. Earned less than $4,050 in taxable income (social security doesn't count) in 2017
5. Did not provide her own support. You must provide more than half of the total support for the year
6. Lived with you all year as a member of your household

 Claiming GF as a dependent

 The easiest way to determine if he can claim you as a dependent is to enter you into TurboTax as a dependent and answer the questions and TurboTax will determine if he can claim you. 

He can go back and Amend Your Return to claim you on his past returns.  "Generally, you must file Form 1040X within three years from the date you filed your original tax return or within two years of the date you paid the tax, whichever is later."https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/ten-facts-on-filing-an-amended-tax-return

[chrispy1486]

Tyvm for responding! The only question I have is regarding the very last paragraph of what you said about filing form "1040x within 3 years from the date he filed his original tax return or within 2 years of the date you paid the tax." I don't understand what that means or if it's relevant to our situation. He's never claimed me before. Noones claimed me in about 25 years and I haven't filed a tax return since I last worked which which was somewhere around 2003 or so. Does the part that you said that I don't understand apply to us? Also we've been doing his taxes through TurboTax for about 4 for 5 years now. Did you mean he could somehow amend his previous tax returns to claim me? And if he can will TurboTax Deluxe guide us through the process of doing that? What do I need to do in Turbo tax to start this process?

[Vanessa]

He can amend his taxes for the past 3 years to claim you on those tax returns.  The IRS only allows you to amend back that far. They will not allow you to go back 5 years to amend.  Here is a link to the Amend process in TurboTax <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1894381-how-to-amend-change-or-correct-a-return-you-already-filed"...>

[Vanessa]

Yes, TurboTax will guide you through the process.  Be sure you print and mail all amended returns

[chrispy1486]

Thank you very very much for your help! I can't tell you how greatly it's appreciated. I'm not sure if I can do it all through TurboTax online or if I'm going to have to print something out and mail it to the IRS. I only mention that because I don't have a printer but I'm very grateful for your knowledge, thank you again!