Can my 17year old son claim me and his 15year old sister on his 2018 taxes?

[ngld2018]

I have not made over 4000 dollars in 2018, we all lived together the whole year of 2018, he supported us both fully all year as well.

[Carl]

Who is "me"? his mother?

[ngld2018]

Yes,im his mother.

[sailor26]

The 2018 tax code did away with Dependency. So the answer is no he cannot claim you on his tax return. The child tax credit is only available for a child under 17 and you don't qualify for that one either. He may be able to claim his sister since she is under 17 but that is a very "iffy" question.. This new code is vastly different than prior years.

[macuser_22]

@sailor26 - What are you talking about - the 2018 tax law did nothing of the sort.  This question said nothing at all about the child tax credit.

The new 2018 law did away with the "personal exemption", but none of the other benefits of claiming a dependent or who can claim a dependent which depends on the circumstances.    A Qualifying Relative dependent now gives the taxpayer a flat $500 credit instead of the previous personal exemption that may or may not have added $500 to the refund.    A Qualifying Child dependent under age 19,  in addition may add possible EIC and other credits.

[TaxGuyBill · Accepted solution]

If he paid for over 50% of your support, yes.  However, if you and/or government benefits paid for more than 50% of your own support, then your son would not have met that test of providing over 50% of your support.

Yes, if your son's income is larger than your income, he can claim his sister as a dependent.

[ngld2018]

Do i still file since he is claiming me, it won't be but maybe 2000 I made all year. I think I do but I say I was claimed on his though.

[Carl]

If you have more than $400 of self-employment income, or more than $12,000 of earned W-2 income, then you would be required to file. So long as  your $2K of income is not self-employment income, you don't need to file. However, if any taxes were withheld from that $2K of income, you should file so as to get those withheld taxes refunded to you.
Just keep in mind as TGBill pointed out, that if more than 50% of your support was provided by other means, such as a combination of food stamps, welfare or other government assistance programs, then there's no way your son provided more than 50% of your support.
But if your son does qualify to claim you, *and* you will be filing a tax return, then it's important that you indicate on your return that "I can be claimed on someone else's return".

[ngld2018]

So since I received fs for all three of us that means he can't claim me.

[ngld2018]

I didn't think fs counted as income. I know there not taxable.

[macuser_22]

If by "fs" you mean financial services then it does not need to count as "income" but it does count as support that your son does not provide.

Use the worksheet 3-1 in IRS Pub 17  for determining support
<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://www.irs.gov/publications/p17#en_US_2017_publink1000171012">https://www.irs.gov/publications/...>

[VolvoGirl]

Or food stamps

[ngld2018]

Yes I meant food stamps

[Carl]

There is a difference between support and income. Food stamps are not income. But they do have a monetary value and count as support being provided by a third party. If you get more than half of your support from third party sources, then your son can't be providing more than half himself. Support is things like (not all inclusive)
Food
Clothing
Housing
Utilities
Transportation
Entertainment (within reason of course)
Medical expenses (to include insurance. If getting subsidized healthcare, the subsidy value is 3rd party support.)
Education costs.

[ngld2018]

Ok well all I can do is try,thanks for helping.