I have a family member who is currently incarcerated and would like to claim him as dependent, what process would I need to follow to file along with my W-2 taxes?

[Mike9241]

i'm going to assume the person is over 19 and not a full-time student in 2023  Different rules would apply if they were.

Qualifying Relative and eligible to be claimed as a dependent the rules are:

• lived in your household the entire year. temporary absences are ignored. In one case the tax court said incarceration before conviction was a temporary absence.  But because the person was sentenced to life at that point the absence became permanent. so in the family member's case, do they intend to return to your household after release? 
• gross income for 2023 less than $4,700
• you provide over ½ their support - hard to determine because while in prison the government is supporting them with food and housing 
• isn’t a qualifying child of another taxpayer
• you can’t be claimed as a dependent
• the person must be unmarried or if married must not file a joint return unless they are only filing to claim a refund. Also, there must be no tax liability for either the dependent or the dependent’s spouse if they would have filed separate returns
• a US citizen, resident alien or national or a resident of Canada or Mexico

Turbotax will be asking these questions to determine dependency status