I came across this article authored by a lawyer/CPA who claims that SSI is NOT counted as support provided by the qualifying child: https://www.thetaxadviser.com/newsletters/2019/apr/tcja-definition-dependent-children-special-needs.html   "Needs-based support, such as SSI, is not included as income nor counted as support provided by a qualifying child for this test. In addition, it is critically important to remember that qualifying child status also requires a residency requirement that is not required under the qualifying relative test; the qualifying child must live in the same household as the taxpayer for more than half the tax year.   By contrast, SSI is counted as support under the qualifying relative test. As a result, if a taxpayer's special needs child's sole source of income is SSI, the "dependent's status" will not be jeopardized under the qualifying child test, but requires further examination under the qualifying relative test as to whether the individual seeking dependent status has provided more than half of the qualifying relative's support."   The author is making a distinction between Qualifying Child (for dependent status) and Qualifying Relative, and stating that SSI is not considered support provided by the Qualifying Child.   Is he simply mistaken?   ... View more

Thanks.  I re-read the publication that ColeenD3 linked.  I think I understand it now.  When it says that a child's social security benefits are considered support paid by the child, it is attempting to make a distinction between social security benefits and state/local benefits (such as TANF and SNAP).  The former is treated as support paid by the beneficiary.   I wonder if the fact that I'm my daughter's Representative Payee for her SSI makes any difference.  Social Security appoints Representative Payees to receive and manage the funds for beneficiaries who are unable to do so themselves.  I suppose it wouldn't make any difference since my daughter is still the beneficiary of the SSI, even though I'm the one who is actually receiving the payments on her behalf.     ... View more

Thank you.  I saw this as well.  Unfortunately this particular IRS publication is rather poorly-written and obfuscates the issue even more for me:     The last sentence in the first paragraph (" whereas any part of such a payment used for the support of the recipient would constitute support of the recipient by a third party") seems to suggest that if a SSI recipient, e.g. my daughter, uses her SSI benefits to provide for her own support, then it constitutes support of my daughter by a third party (i.e. not my daughter providing her own support).  But the example in the following paragraph ("If a child receives Social Security benefits, and uses them for the child’s own support, the benefits are considered to be provided by the child") seems to contradict that.  Under that example, if my daughter's SSI benefits are being used for her support, then she is considered to be providing her own support.     Maybe I'm reading too much into this and making it more complicated than it is?   ... View more

Thank you.  Just to be clear: it's possible to have a Qualifying Child for EIC purposes, and still file as Single?  (i.e. the tax software wouldn't flag that as an error and default my filing status to Head of Household) ... View more