Your refund cannot be taken for someone you claim as a dependent (even if the dependent owes the IRS or State). If you claim your boyfriend as a dependent on your federal income tax return and he has unpaid debts including child support, your refund cannot be intercepted for those debts.
A boyfriend can be
claimed as a dependent if they pass the tests used to determine if
your child or relative can be claimed as a dependent.
First, your significant other
cannot be claimed as a
dependent on another tax return.
That’s the first phase of tests.
If he passes that rule,
these four “tests” will need to be passed to qualify as a dependent. He:
- Is not a
“qualifying child” of a taxpayer. The IRS has specific qualifying child
rules based on relationship, age, residency, and joint return
- Earned less
than $4,050 in taxable income (amount of the personal exemption) in 2016
- Did not
provide over half of his or her own support
- Lived with
you all year as a member of your household (keep in mind: dependent
relatives do not have to live with you)
As you can see, the tests make it
impossible for someone to be claimed as a dependent on two returns. Either you
provided their support or someone else did.
If your significant other passes these
tests, TurboTax makes it easy to claim the dependent exemption by
asking simple questions about your life.
