I supported my daughter (age 35) for the past year, she didn't live with me and had no income for the year other than my support. Turbotax won't let me claim her Why?

[jfelber]

According to Pub 501: Relatives who don't have to live with you. A person related to you in any of the following ways doesn't have to live with you all year as a member of your household to meet this test. So why won't Turbotax allow me to claim as a dependent, what am I missing? Am I wrong or is Turbotax wrong?

[DoninGA]

Review your answers for the dependent since she should be able to be claimed under the Qualifying Relative Rules.

If your answers are all correct, delete her as a dependent and re-enter.

To be a Qualifying Relative -

1. The person cannot be your qualifying child or the qualifying child of any other taxpayer. A child is not the qualifying child of any other taxpayer if the child's parent (or any other person for whom the child is defined as a qualifying child) is not required to file an income tax return or files an income tax return only to get a refund on income tax withheld.
2. The person either (a) must be related to you or (b) must live with you all year as a member of your household.
3. The person's gross income for the year must be less than $5,050 (social security does not count) in 2024
4. You must provide more than half of the person's total support for the year.
5. The person must be a U.S. citizen or a U.S., Canada, or Mexico resident for some part of the year.
6. The person must not file a joint return with their spouse with the following exception -
You can claim a person as a dependent who files a joint return if that person and that person’s spouse file the joint return only to claim a refund of income tax withheld or estimated tax paid.

[jfelber]

Who do you support?  Another person

Continue

Let's start with some info about who you support

First name, last name, date of birth, us citizen

Continue

Rachel is my “Other” from dropdown menu

Did Rachel live with you for the whole year? No

Rachel lived with me for 0 months from dropdown menu

Did Rachel live with another relative for more than six months in 2024? No

Was Rachel's gross income $5,050.00 or more in 2024? No

Did you pay for more than half of Rachel's living expenses in 2024? Yes

Continue

Less common situations for Rachel

None of these apply.

Let's get Rachel's SSN

Continue

It turns out Rachel doesn't qualify as your dependent

Why doesn't Rachel count?

Based on what you told us, Rachel didn't live with you for every month in 2024.

According to the IRS publication a qualifying relative doesn't have to live with you, so why won't Turbotax work correctly? What did I answer wrong.

[DoninGA]

Change your relationship Select My Child and then Daughter.

[jfelber]

It won't work if you claim as a child because it requires that they live with you more than 6 months to get to the income question otherwise Turbotax does not ask these required questions and flakes out and says We don't have enough information about Rachel right now. Simply go back and enter all of her info, and we'll get you your result. So what do I do, according to what I read per IRS 501 I can claim her, but I can't claim her as a dependent child as that requires 6 months living with me. I think the Turbotax program is ignoring the "or" rule and making it "and" which is wrong. So I have tried both methods Child or Other and none works. I think Turbotax has a bug, how do I report it.

[DoninGA]

@jfelber Of course you can claim the dependent as a child, even if she is 35 years old.  The TurboTax program looks at the date of birth to determine if the dependent is claimed under the Qualifying Child rules or the Qualifying Relative rules.  The 35 old daughter is claimed under the Qualifying Relative rules. 

[KrisD15]

The issue may not be the months living with you. A child any age not living in your home with no income is claimed as a dependent by the TurboTax program.

The issue may be that child's income, if you select "Yes" for "Did they Make $5,050 or More Last Year" that person will not qualify as your dependent. 

Please review your entries if you are claiming this is your child, any age, any amount in the home and No, they didn't make $5,050. 

@jfelber 

[jfelber]

@DoninGAIt will NOT allow me to claim her as other relative and that is the problem. According to the IRS it is allowed but the program will not allow it, per the example response I posted earlier as a reply. So this is a bug in the program and I don't know how to proceed other than lying about living with me.

[KrisD15]

Again, did you review your entries? Did you claim the child made any income? 

[jfelber]

@KrisD15I answered NO on the income question and it won't work, see my reply post after the original of the steps and answers. If you claim as a child, you have to claim as living with you 7 months or more to get to the income question and then it will allow the person to be added as a dependent. But if you say 6 months or less then Turbotax won't ask the income question and fails. If I do as another dependent it gives me all the questions but says she doesn't qualify as a dependent. So clearly Turbotax is wrong somewhere.

[DoninGA]

@jfelber Also, make sure that you did Not check the box "not valid for employment" in the Social Security number section.

[jfelber]

@DoninGAI did not check the box saying the SS is not valid for employment, so that is not the issue.

[DoninGA]

I just entered a dependent that is 26 years old without a problem

What is Jim's relationship to you? - My Child

Let's start with some info about your child - Date of birth 01/01/1998, US Citizen

Jim's additional info

• Son
• Did not live with me for the whole year - 0 months
• Gross income was not $5,050 or more
• Paid for more than half of Jim's living expenses in 2024

Less common situations for Jim - None of these apply

Let's get Jim's SSN - enter SSN and do Not check the box "not valid for employment"

Good news! Jim qualifies as your dependent

[jfelber]

@DoninGA  I see from your example you added the dependent at the very beginning of starting your tax return. I did not and then went back to add and it won't. So I will delete my tax return and start over. There is a bug, it won't let me add my daughter after I had entered my income as it won't ask the proper questions, if you put zero months living with you it won't ask the income question at all and therefore says incomplete and won't allow the dependent. if you put 7 months or more living with you it then ask the income question and says I can claim the dependent. 

[jfelber]

Deleting and starting over doesn't fix the issue with the online version. It automatically imports my lasts year data for which I was single and no dependents. Then going thru the process of adding my adult daughter as a dependent if you answer zero months it skips asking how much did she earn and if I paid half of her support and thus fails.  The Turbotax program is flawed and has a bug, there is no requirements living with you for a relative, it is "or" per the IRS but Turbotax treats as an "and" they have to be related "and" they have to live with you more than 6 months. I assume I can just answer that she lived with me for 7 months in Turbotax and then the program will add her as a dependent if that information isn't sent to the IRS, I don't want to lie, but I want to claim the deduction I am entitled to since I supported her for the whole year including going back to school to retrain into a new career after becoming a discouraged worker.