My wife's father passed away Nov. 2022 and we now have her mother living with us. She does collect S.S. and is now living with us, can we claim her as a dependent?

[DoninGA]

You may be able to claim her as a dependent under the Qualifying Relative rules if she meets all the requirements under the rules.

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.

[DianeW777]

It depends.  If she is providing more than half of her own support then you would not be able to claim her.  Here are the rules for claiming a relative.

• Rules for a qualifying dependent (as noted by DoninGA).  
• Publication 4012, Worksheet for Determining Support
• IRS Publication 501

The tools will give you details you can use in your situation to see if you can qualify to claim your mother as a dependent.  The most important is the support test.