Our daughter did not work last year due to health problems. Her child lived with us. The child's father claims him for 2023, but can we claim him as a dependent?

[sopranogirl]

My daughter and her son live with us.  She switches off every other year with the childs father and she has full time physical custody at our house.  My daughter will not be filing, because she has no income.

[xmasbaby0]

If the child's father already claimed the child, any other tax return that is e-filed claiming the child will be rejected.   If you are the one who supported the child for 2023, and you claim the child, then you can file by mail and let the IRS sort out who can claim the child.  The IRS cares about physical custody.   It sounds like you can claim both your daughter and the child as dependents.

Is there any sort of court order or signed agreement between your daughter and the child's father?   If so,  it could get messy----but the IRS cares who the child spent the most nights with---at least 183 nights.

IRS interview to help determine who can be claimed:

https://www.irs.gov/help/ita/who-can-i-claim-as-a-dependent

To claim a grandchild as your dependent

When you enter the child’s name in My Info, you will be asked “What’s your relationship to  [child’s name]?”  

           Choose “another person”

            a drop down menu will appear that lets you choose grandchild

[Vanessa A]

No.  If your daughter has full custody, then his father can only claim him as the non custodial parent.  The only credit he can claim as the noncustodial parent is the Child Tax Credit.  If he claimed him for anything else, then he did it wrong.  

If he did not claim him for anything else, then yes, you would be able to claim him as a dependent if you are the ones that provided over half of his support and he lived with you for more than half of the year. 

Since the father is claiming the Child Tax Credit, unless your income would qualify you for the Earned Income Tax Credit, you may not see any change in your tax return (I am assuming you are married filing jointly since you said lives with us) as it would not change your filing status and you wouldn't get the CTC.  

You could possibly claim your daughter for the $500 Non-Refundable Other Dependent Credit. 

To claim someone as a qualifying child:

• Your child (including adopted and foster children), your sibling, or a descendent of any of them.
• Age 18 or younger at the end of the tax year OR under 24 (and younger than you and your spouse) if they are a full-time student
• Lived with you for more than 6 months during the tax year
• They did not provide more than half of their own support
• They did not file a joint return, unless it was to claim a refund

A qualifying Child may allow you to claim Child Tax Credit and Additional Child Tax.  If they are 17 or older, then you would not get the Child Tax Credit, but instead you would get the Other Dependent Credit.

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)

Claiming someone as a qualifying relative allows you to claim the $500 Non-Refundable Other Dependent Credit