Can I file my father as a dependent if he has no earned income but he filed married filing jointly with my mom who earned income?

[DoninGA]

No, you cannot claim him as a dependent since he filed a Married Filing Jointly tax return.

[hirasabir01]

Thanks for your response. But I read online that there are some exceptions like "If your parent files a joint tax return solely to get a refund, you can claim him or her as a dependent. Your parent must not have a gross income of $4,300 (in 2021) a year or more."

Can I claim him as a dependent under this condition?

[DoninGA]

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@hirasabir01 wrote:

Thanks for your response. But I read online that there are some exceptions like "If your parent files a joint tax return solely to get a refund, you can claim him or her as a dependent. Your parent must not have a gross income of $4,300 (in 2021) a year or more."

Can I claim him as a dependent under this condition?

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If their 2021 Adjusted Gross Income on the joint tax return was greater than $25,100 or if both were age 65 or older $27,800 then they were required to file a tax return and the exception would not apply.

If that is not the case, you still must provide over one-half his support to claim him as a dependent.

Use the support worksheet form IRS Publication 501 page 16 - https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p501.pdf#page=16

[JulieS]

The meaning of this exception is that the joint return was not required to be filed because the income was too low to require that they file a return. 

The standard deduction for married filing jointly is $25,100, if their total income is less than that and no return was required for a different reason, you could claim your father as a dependent if you otherwise qualify to do so. 

[hirasabir01]

To whom does the $4300 limit apply to? My father had no income at all but my mother's income was more then $25,100. He is disabled and was unemployed. And I provided more then half of my father's support including rent, travel expenses, groceries and so on. Does he disqualifies to be my dependent because of my mother's income even though I did provide more then half of the support?

[DoninGA · Accepted solution]

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@hirasabir01 wrote:

To whom does the $4300 limit apply to? My father had no income at all but my mother's income was more then $25,100. He is disabled and was unemployed. And I provided more then half of my father's support including rent, travel expenses, groceries and so on. Does he disqualifies to be my dependent because of my mother's income even though I did provide more then half of the support?

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Yes, that disqualifies you from being able to claim him as your dependent.  The $4,300 income requirement is not relevant since he filed a joint tax return with his spouse and the income entered on the joint tax return required that the return be filed.