I am head of household and I have claimed my mother as my dependent for a number of years. She became eligible for SSI spousal benefits as of May 2023. How can I determine if I can continue to claim her on my 2023 taxes and beyond? She is not required to file a tax return herself as far as I know.
Let's make sure you are using the term "SSI" correctly---that gets used incorrectly a lot. Do you mean she is receiving Social Security? That is NOT SSI. If she is getting Social Security, she will receive a SSA1099 in January from Social Security, and that income does not prevent you from claiming her as a dependent.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SOCIAL SECURITY BENEFITS AND SSI?
Your mom's Social Security benefits are not factored in when you are entering her as a dependent. Only any OTHER income she is receiving would count. Does she have any other income like a pension, investment income, etc.?
Thank you for you input xmasbaby0!
No other source of income beside this new SSI benefit. I cover all of her high cost expenses like medical and dental insurance. I was mostly concerned that there could be a dollar amount limit that any dependent can have and disqualify them from being claimed. So this doesn’t apply to SSI benefits?
Hello xmasbaby0,
Thanks for joining the event!
To continue to claim your parent as a dependent, you will need to determine if you provide more than ½ your parent’s support during the tax year, and their gross taxable income doesn’t exceed $4700 (for tax year 2023). This is a great article on this topic: Claiming Parent as dependent
Support worksheet: Support Worksheet
I hope this helps!
JanetB211
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Let's make sure you are using the term "SSI" correctly---that gets used incorrectly a lot. Do you mean she is receiving Social Security? That is NOT SSI. If she is getting Social Security, she will receive a SSA1099 in January from Social Security, and that income does not prevent you from claiming her as a dependent.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SOCIAL SECURITY BENEFITS AND SSI?
Thank you Janet B211!
Is spousal SSI benefit taxable income? She only started receiving starting May 2023
Supplemental Security Income benefits are not taxable for Federal purposes. This is a reference for you on this!
SSI
Yea, you’re absolutely correct xmasbaby0. Thank you! The benefit that I am referring to is social security and NOT SSI.
Thank you JanetB21! Super helpful. So my understanding is that I should not have an issue in continuing to claim her as my dependent since I continue to provide over half of her support even with the new social security benefit she is receiving.
That is correct! Great information @JanetB21 JanetB21