How to claim an elderly unrelated person as a dependent in TurboTax?

[leojbourne]

Need to handle situation of unrelated elderly person dependent.  Also, under most recent law is Social Security included in dependent's gross income?

[xmasbaby0]

With whom does the elderly person live?

[Hal_Al]

A person can still be a standard dependent ("Qualifying Relative" in IRS parlance even though they don't have to actually be related), if not a Qualifying Child, if he meets the 6 tests for claiming a dependent:

1. Closely Related OR live with the taxpayer ALL year

2. His/her gross taxable income for the year must be less than $4,050 (2016-17). Social Security does not count as income

3. The taxpayer must have provided more than 1/2 his support

4. He must be a US citizen or resident of the US, Canada or Mexico

5. He must not file a joint return with his spouse or be claiming a dependent of his own

6. He must not be the qualifying child of another taxpayer

Social security doesn't count as income, for the income test, but social security money he/she spends on her self does count as support not provided by you, for the support test. The IRS has a worksheet that can be used to help with the support calculation. See: http://apps.irs.gov/app/vita/content/globalmedia/teacher/worksheet_for_determining_support_4012.pdf The support value of a home is the fair market rental value, divided by the number of occupants.

In TurboTax, you enter the dependent's info under personal info and carefully answer the dependent interview questions.