I'm trying to determine if I should state we have children we support, even though they do their own taxes, we do not claim them, but they live at home with us

[user100000]

ages 19 and 25.  lived with us all 2016, we supported them.  Since they do their own taxes, I know we don't claim them, but do we get any credit for supporting them?

[KrisD · Accepted solution]

You would get credit for supporting them only if they are considered your dependents.

If they file their own tax return, and claim their own exemption, you cannot get any credits pertaining to them being in your household.

If they were not a full-time student under age 24 in 2016 (or permanently and totally disabled ) they would have had to earn less than $4,050 in 2016 for you to claim as dependents.

If none of these situations apply to you, you do not get any credit.

If they are your dependents, they can still file, in fact they may be required to, but they would need to elect "Someone else can claim me" and they might have a larger tax liability because of it.

Please click the link below for more detailed information:

CLICK HERE for TurboTax help on Rules for Claiming a Dependent on Your Tax Return