Yes, if the two of them lived with him all year
and the other rules are met (*see
below) and if they meet all the IRS requirements for dependents. If she did not work or have any other type of income then she would not be required to file a tax return.
There
are two types of dependents, each subject to different rules:
- A qualifying child
- A qualifying relative
For
both types of dependents, you’ll need to answer the following questions to
determine if you can claim them.
-
Are they a citizen or
resident? The person must be a U.S. citizen, a U.S. national, a U.S.
resident, or a resident of Canada or Mexico. Many people wonder if they
can claim a foreign-exchange student who temporarily lives
with them. The answer is maybe, but only if they meet
this requirement.
-
Are you the only person
claiming them as a dependent? You can’t claim someone who takes a personal
exemption for himself or claims another dependent on his own tax form.
-
Are they filing a joint
return? You cannot claim someone who is married and files a joint tax
return. Say you support your married teenaged son: If he files a joint
return with his spouse, you can’t claim him as a dependent.
Qualifying Child
In
addition to the qualifications above, to claim an exemption for your child, you
must be able to answer "yes" to all of the following questions.
-
Are they related to you? The
child can be your son, daughter, stepchild, eligible foster child,
brother, sister, half brother, half sister, stepbrother, stepsister,
adopted child or an offspring of any of them.
-
Do they meet the age
requirement? Your child must be under age 19 or, if a full-time student,
under age 24. There is no age limit if your child is permanently and
totally disabled.
-
Do they live with you? Your
child must live with you for more than half the year, but several
exceptions apply.
-
Do you financially support
them? Your child may have a job, but that job cannot provide more than
half of her support.
- Are you the
only person claiming them? This requirement commonly applies to children
of divorced parents. Here you must use the “tie breaker rules,” which are
found in IRS Publication 501. These rules
establish income, parentage and residency requirements for claiming a
child.
Qualifying Relative
Many people provide support to their aging
parents. But just because you mail your
78-year-old mother a check every once in a while doesn’t mean you can claim her
as a dependent. Here is a checklist for determining whether your mom (or other
relative) qualifies.
-
Do they live with you? Your
relative must live at your residence all year or be on the list of
“relatives who do not live with you” in Publication 501. About 30 types of
relatives are on this list.
-
Do they make less than
$4,050? Your relative cannot have a gross income of more than $4,000 and
be claimed by you as a dependent.
-
Do you financially support
them? You must provide more than half of your relative’s total support
each year.
-
Are you the only person
claiming them? This means you can’t claim the same person twice, once as a
qualifying relative and again as a qualifying child. It also means you
can’t claim a relative—say a cousin—if someone else, such as his parents, also
claim him.
TurboTax will help figure it out for you. TurboTax will
ask you simple, plain-English questions about your family and will determine
for you who qualifies as a dependent on your tax
return, so you can be sure you’re getting the
biggest refund you deserve.
