Who can claim a child if they lived with a friend (non-relative) for most of the year?

[mugglegirl75]

My son stayed with a friend most of last year. The parent did not have any legal rights to him and I am his only parent. Can I or the other person claim him?

[Critter-3]

The friend's parent cannot claim your son because he did not live with them the entire tax year and they are not related.

You may not be able to claim him either ... here are the rules:

A dependent must meet the requirements of a qualifying child or a qualifying relative in order for you to claim them on your tax return.

The tests for a qualifying child are:

• Relationship: Must be your child, adopted child, foster child, brother or sister, or a descendant of one of these (grand or nephew).
• Residence: Must have the same residence for more than half the year.
• Age: Must be under age 19 or under 24 and a full-time student for at least 5 months. They can be any age if they are totally and permanently disabled.
• Support: The dependent must not have provided more than half of their own support during the year.
• Joint Support: The child cannot file a joint return for the year.

The tests for a qualifying relative are:

• Qualifying Child: They are not the “qualifying child” of another taxpayer or your “qualifying child.”
• Gross Income: The dependent being claimed earns less than $4,400 in 2022.
• Total Support: You provide more than half of the total support for the year.
• Member of Household or Relationship: The person (a friend, girlfriend, non-blood relative) must live with you all year as a member of your household or be related to you.

TurboTax software will ask you simple questions and give you the tax deductions and credits for which you are eligible based upon your answers.

See also these TurboTax Helps.

Who Can I Claim as a Tax Dependent?

Can I claim my relative or friend as my dependent?

You may also want to view IRS Publication 501.

[Opus 17]

This is quite tricky.

For one thing, your child is considered to live with their parent "at home" if their absence is considered temporary.  Temporary absences include being away at college, so long as the child returns for school breaks, or leaves their stuff at the house, or it is reasonable that the child will return home after college while they figure out the next step in life.  So, depending on the exact circumstances, this might be a temporary absence and you can say your child lived with you all year.  From there, it will depend on the child's age and whether or not they provided more than half their own support.

If this was not a temporary absence, then you might be able to claim the child as your dependent even though they did not live in your home, if you provided more than half their total financial support.  Or, you could claim the child if you provided at least 10% of the child's support and you get a signed statement from everyone else who paid more than 10% of the child's support that you can claim them and they won't.  This works because you can claim your child as a dependent under the support test even if the child does not live at home, but this kind of dependent is called a "qualifying relative" and is worth a $500 credit, and is not eligible for the larger child tax credit, and does not allow you to file as head of household.

The other family can never claim your child no matter how much financial support they provided since the child did not live in their home all 365 days of the year. 

https://www.irs.gov/publications/p501#en_US_2023_publink1000221013

[Hal_Al]

I assume that you did not also live with the friend that your child lived with. 

The friend cannot claim the child because they are not related and did not live together all year.

You cannot claim your child under the qualifying child rules because he/she did not live with you for more than half the year. We then look to see if you can claim him/her under the Qualifying relative rules.

1. Closely Related OR live with the taxpayer ALL year. Note that he did not have to live with you at all, since you are closely related. 
2. His/her gross taxable income for the year must be less than $4700 (2023) ($4400 for 2022).
3. The taxpayer (you) must have provided more than 1/2 his support. That maybe unlikely if he was living with someone else.*
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

*The IRS has a worksheet that can be used to help with the support calculation. See: http://apps.irs.gov/app/vita/content/globalmedia/teacher/worksheet_for_determining_support_4012.pdf The support value of a home is the fair market rental value, divided by the number of occupants.