Can I claim elderly parent who lives with me and I provide housing, transportation, etc? She does collect SS and medicare.

[dbucciero964]

She had a stroke in June and is more limited in her daily activities.

[DoninGA]

You may be able to claim her as a dependent under the Qualifying Relative 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 $5,050 (social security does not count) in 2024
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 with the following exception -
You can claim a person as a dependent who files a joint return if that person and that person’s spouse file the joint return only to claim a refund of income tax withheld or estimated tax paid.

[KeshaH]

You would be able to claim your mother as a dependent as long as:

- her gross income (not including nontaxable social security benefits) is less than $5,050

- you provided more than half of her support (housing, food, medical care, transportation, etc)

- only you are claiming her as a dependent (if other people also help support her and you did not provide more than half of her support yourself, you would need them to agree that they won't claim her)

The fact that she lives with you and you provide her housing and transportation works in our favor for the support test. Social security and Medicare don't count toward the gross income test but they do count when calculating support. You'll need to add up all of the support you provide to make sure you provided more than half. The IRS has this worksheet for determining support that is very helpful for figuring out if you qualify.