No. He also cannot file as Head of Household.
You and your son may be his tax dependents, so he can claim your $4000 exemption (deduction), if you lived with him all year (see full rules below). But because you and your son are not related, your cannot be a qualifying child for
the earned income credit and child tax credit and neither of you are a qualifying person for Head of Household filing status.
A person can still be an
other dependent (Qualifying relative in IRS parlance, even though they do not
have to actually be related), if not a Qualifying Child, if he meets the 6
tests for claiming a dependent:
1. Closely Related OR live
with you ALL year
2. His/her gross taxable income for the year must be less than $4,000 (2015)
3. You must have provided
more than 1/2 his support
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
You may be able to file as
Married Filing Jointly if you live in a state that recognizes common law
marriage. Currently, the following jurisdictions recognize common law
marriage:
Alabama
Colorado
District
of Columbia
Iowa
Kansas
Montana
New
Hampshire
Oklahoma
Rhode
Island
South
Carolina
Texas
Utah
Georgia(1997), Idaho(1996), Ohio(Oct. 1991), and Pennsylvania(2005) are grandfathered for the
marriages before the year indicated. Living
together in a common law state is usually insufficient - you need to hold
yourself out as married including owning property together, having joint
bank accounts, etc. To find out your state’s rules see:
http://family.findlaw.com/marriage/common-law-marriage-states.html
If you are able to file jointly, then you (the couple) DO have a qualifying child for the tax credits.
