My adult, disabled child lives with me but is employed full-time. He does not contribute to the household expenses. Can I claim him as a dependent?

[emilyvee]

His gross income last year was $30,740.

[Vanessa A]

No.  If he is an adult and able to earn a living, then his income would not be able to be greater than $4,700 for the year in order to claim him.

To claim someone as a Qualifying Relative, they must be:

• Your child ( including step children, adoptive children and foster children) or a descendent of them
• Your sibling (including half siblings) or a child of your sibling or a sibling-in-law
• Your parent or grandparents, including step parents and in laws
• Any other person that lived with you for the entire tax year
• Not a qualifying child of another taxpayer
• Someone that you provided over half of their support for during the tax year
• Has less than $4,700 in income (not counting social security)

[DoninGA]

This is the IRS definition of disabled -

Permanently and totally disabled. Your child is permanently and totally disabled if both of the following apply.
• Your child can't engage in any substantial gainful activity because of a physical or mental condition.
• A doctor determines the condition has lasted or can be expected to last continuously for at least a year or can lead to death.

Based on that definition it would not appear that the child is disabled since they are gainfully employed.  In that case you would only be able to claim them under the Qualifying Relative rules.  However, the rules state that the dependent cannot have gross income of $4,700 or more.  So you would not be able to claim them as a dependent.

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 $4,700 (social security does not count) in 2023
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.