Supporting son with his two sons

[yourgreennurse]

my son moved in with me as well as two grandson's. He had been working but didn't work outside the home all of 2016. Single parents and grandson's (my son helps to care for his grandma with dementia who is here a considerable amount of time) The question is how do I claim my grandson's?

[RichardK · Accepted solution]

If your grandchildren's parent's do not claim your grandchildren, and your grandchildren meet the tests for you to claim them as Qualifying Children, you claim them as you would  if they were your own children. Click here for the IRS definition of a "Qualifying Child".

The four tests to be a "Qualifying Child" are:

1.     The Relationship test — the taxpayer’s child or stepchild (whether by blood or adoption), foster child, sibling or stepsibling, or a descendant of one of these.

2.Residence — has the same principal residence as the taxpayer for more than half the tax year. Exceptions apply, in certain cases, for children of divorced or separated parents, kidnapped children, temporary absences, and for children who were born or died during the year

3.Age — must be under the age of 19 at the end of the tax year, or under the age of 24 if a full-time student for at least five months of the year, or be permanently and totally disabled at any time during the year.

4. Support — did not provide more than one-half of his/her own support for the year.

[MiriamF]

If you are paying more than half of the support of  your grandsons, and they lived with you for more than half the year, then you can claim them, assuming that their mother will not. You can also claim your son if he earned less than $4,050 in 2016. If his grandma is your mother or mother-in-law and you paid more than half her support, you can claim her even if she did not live with you.

This article explains the rules for claiming dependents.

Here is a worksheet for calculating support.

To claim your grandsons, simply enter them as dependents under the Personal Info tab at the top of the screen. Here is more info about how to enter a dependent in TurboTax.