No. But maybe.
It's complicated, but the short answer is "support" is not the main factor in who can claim a child. The main factor is who he lived with for more than half the year.
There are two types of
dependents, "Qualifying Children"(QC) and standard ("Qualifying
Relative" in IRS parlance even though they don't have to actually be related). There
is no income limit for a QC but there is an age limit, a
relationship test and a residence test. Only a QC qualifies the taxpayer
for the Earned Income Credit, the Child Tax Credit. They are interrelated but
the rules are different for each.
A child closely related to a taxpayer can be a “Qualifying Child (QC)”
dependent, regardless of the
child's income, if:
1.
He is under age 19, or under 24 if a full time
student for at least 5 months of the year, or
is totally & permanently disabled
2.
He did not provide more than 1/2 his own
support
3.
He lived with the relative (including temporary
absences) for more than half the year
4.
He is younger than the relative (not applicable
for a disabled child)
5.
If the
child meets the rules to be a qualifying child of more than one person, you
must be the person entitled to claim the child as a qualifying child (this
essentially means that you have the parent’s permission to claim the child, if the child also lived with the parent more than
half the year)
6.
If the parents of a
child can claim the child as a qualifying child but no parent so claims the
child, no one else can claim the child as a qualifying child unless that
person's adjusted gross income (AGI) is higher than the highest AGI of any of
the child's parents who can claim the child.
So, what's the maybe part? A person can still be a Qualifying
relative dependent, 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)
3. The taxpayer must have
provided more than 1/2 his support
In either case:
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. What this means is, you can only claim the child if his mother is not required to file a return.
Even then, the child may qualify as a
dependent, but because he did not live with you for more than half the year, he cannot be a qualifying child for
the earned income credit or child tax credit.
Reference: https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tools/tax-tips/Family/Rules-for-Claiming-a-Dependent-on-Your-Tax-Ret...
