Qualifying Relative Dependents on Your IRS and State Tax Returns

If you and one or more other people together provide more than half of a person’s support and that person meets the requirements to be the qualifying relative of each of you, you can agree among yourselves who gets to claim the person as a qualifying relative. It can be either one of you who provides more than 50% of the person’s support, but only one person can get to claim the dependent. Each of the other persons providing support will need to sign a statement agreeing not to claim the dependent for the year. Whoever claims the dependent should keep the signed statements for their records. If you claim a qualifying relative, your dependent cannot claim their own dependents, cannot be married and file a joint return, and must be a citizen, national, or resident alien of the United States or a resident of Canada or Mexico. 108–311 reenacted section catchline without change and amended text generally.

• The dependent must meet certain relationship tests.
• Claiming dependents can help you save thousands of dollars on your taxes each year.
• All features, services, support, prices, offers, terms and conditions are subject to change without notice.
• The IRS describes a qualifying relative as someone that’s related to the taxpayer and now lives with or is taken care of in the household.
• A taxpayer can claim a dependent as a qualifying child or qualifying relative, but not both.

Since 2018, the IRS recognizes Child Tax Credits of $2,000 for each qualifying child. The government also awards $500 for each qualifying relative under its Credit for Other Dependents (ODC) worksheet. Under the ODC guidelines, taking care of two aging parents could earn you $1,000 toward your adjusted gross income (AGI). These qualifying relative rules allow potential certain savings for certain non-relative children and other household members. Heads of households could reap significant tax benefits from maximizing these tax breaks.

Nonresident Alien Spouse/RDPs

In either scenario, depending on all the facts of the particular case, the refusal of admission may result in extreme hardship to one or more qualifying relatives. A stepchild is not your birth child but is the birth child or adopted child of your spouse/RDP. To have a stepchild, you must have at some time been married to, or in a registered domestic partnership with, the child’s birth parent. You are treated as the child’s stepparent if you are in a registered domestic partnership with the child’s birth parent. You are keeping up your home only if you pay more than half the cost of keeping up the home for the tax year.

• A Qualifying Relative is a person who meets the IRS requirements to be your dependent for tax purposes.
• If your spouse/RDP was a nonresident alien at any time during the year, you are unmarried or not a registered domestic partner for head of household purposes.
• You are not eligible for either the Child Tax Credit, Additional Child Tax Credit, or Earned Income Tax Credit with this child.
• Although you may be the head of your house, you may not qualify for the HOH filing status under state and federal tax laws.

These can include the child care credit, the child tax credit, the earned income credit, and the head of household credit, for example. You must have a qualifying person who is related to you to qualify for head of household filing status. Your qualifying person must meet the requirements to be either a qualifying child or qualifying relative.

Considered Unmarried or Considered Not in a Registered Domestic Partnership

Citizen or Resident Test – A person is a U.S. citizens or national, or residents of the US Canada or Mexico. Citizen or Resident Test – A child is a U.S. citizens or national, or residents of the US Canada or Mexico. Any of these relationships that were established by marriage aren’t ended by death or divorce. We cannot guarantee the accuracy of this translation and shall not be liable for any inaccurate information or changes in the page layout resulting from the translation application tool.

If an individual is a dependent of a taxpayer for any taxable year of such taxpayer beginning in a calendar year, such individual shall be treated as having no dependents for any taxable year of such individual beginning in such calendar year. Prior to 2003, there were 5 or more different definitions of a dependent. In an effort to clarify and streamline parts of the tax code, The Working Family Tax Relief Act (WFTRA) of 2004 created a ‘single’ definition of a child dependent and a non-child dependent. The two types of dependents are referred to as the Qualifying Child or the Qualifying Relative.

Registered Domestic Partners (RDPs)

To qualify for the HOH filing status, you must have a qualifying person who is related to you and meets the requirements of either a qualifying child or qualifying relative. You must also pay more than half the cost of keeping up your home in which you and your qualifying person lived for more than half the year. For tax purposes, a dependent is someone “other than the taxpayer or spouse” who qualifies to be claimed by someone else on a tax return. More generally speaking, a dependent is someone who relies on another person for financial support, such as for housing, food, clothing, necessities, and more. Typically, this includes your children or other relatives, but it can also include people who aren’t directly related to you, such as a domestic partner.

To get money into the hands of families faster, the IRS sent out advance payments of the 2021 Child Tax Credit beginning in July of 2021. Get the insight and tools you need to fully understand and comply with changes resulting from this major tax reform. Neither the related occupant nor the owner of the property may claim a property tax refund for a homestead occupied by a relative, unless the property is owned jointly and one of the joint owners occupy the property as their primary residence. https://turbo-tax.org/ Property that has been classified as seasonal recreational residential property at any time during which it has been owned by the current owner or spouse of the current owner will not be reclassified as a homestead unless it is occupied as a homestead by the owner. This prohibition also applies to property that, in the absence of this homestead provision, would have been classified as seasonal recreational residential property at the time when the residence was constructed.

Hardship to Other Non-Qualifying Relatives

But just because you mail your 78-year-old mother a check every once in a while doesn’t mean you can claim her as a dependent. Here’s a checklist for determining whether your mom (or other relative) qualifies. The 2022 Other Dependent Credit for qualifying relatives is $500. If someone died at any time during the year, but lived with you as a member of your household for any portion of the year, they are considered to have lived with you for the entire year. If a child was born at any time during the year, but lived with you as a member of your household for the rest of the year, they are also considered to have lived with you all year. In the case of either birth or death, any related hospital stay is considered a temporary absence.

• However, the dependent’s gross income must fall under $4,300 to qualify as a qualifying relative.
• Remember to read the Legal definitions of all of the underlined terms.
• The federal income tax code describes a qualifying relative as someone that’s claimed as a dependent by another taxpayer.
• And don’t forget that, for U.S. tax purposes, in addition to being your qualifying child or qualifying relative, a dependent must be a U.S. citizen, U.S. resident alien, U.S. national, or a resident of Canada or Mexico and have a valid tax ID number.
• The IRS uses several tests to define a qualifying relative.
• If you’re looking for creative ways to lower your tax bill, you landed in the right spot.

There isn’t an age test to be considered as a qualifying relative. The IRS describes a qualifying relative as someone that’s related to the taxpayer and now lives with or is taken care of in the household. However, the IRS also states that a qualifying relative doesn’t necessarily have to be biologically related to the taxpayer. However, the personal exemption for a qualifying relative was eliminated temporarily when the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) of 2018 were introduced. This means that even if you claim a qualifying relative as a dependent, you won’t be able to receive an additional exemption.

Qualifying Relative as a Dependent

Prior to amendment, section consisted of subsecs. (a) to (e) relating to general definition of dependent, rules relating to general definition, multiple support agreements, special support test in case of students, and support test in case of child of divorced parents, https://turbo-tax.org/qualifying-relative/ etc., respectively. For purposes of subparagraph (A)(ii), the term “eligible foster child” means an individual who is placed with the taxpayer by an authorized placement agency or by judgment, decree, or other order of any court of competent jurisdiction.