Sometimes we’re so busy growing up that we forget they’re growing old.
Everyone knows that claiming a dependent on your income tax return can get you a significantly larger refund. For every dependent you claim on your taxes you can claim an extra personal exemption. That’s a large chunk of change you can deduct from your income, thus reducing your tax burden.
But who exactly can you claim? Are you eligible to claim your parents as dependents?
When it comes to taxes there are actually two different types of dependents: qualifying children and qualifying relatives.
Obviously, you can’t claim your parents as qualifying children. So the question becomes, do they meet the requirements for qualifying relatives?
Is your parent a qualifying relative for tax purposes?
In order to claim someone as a qualifying relative they must:
- Have lived with you all year as a member of your household, or be one of the following family members: child, parent, sibling, stepparent, stepchild, step-sibling, half sibling, grandparent, grandchild, child-in-law, parent-in-law, sibling-in-law, uncle, aunt, niece, or nephew
- Be a U.S. citizen or resident, or a resident of Canada or Mexico
- Be unmarried, or married but not filing a joint return
- Not be a qualifying child of you or someone else
- Have a gross income of less than $4,000
- Have more than half of their total support for the year provided by you
In plain English, this means that yes you can claim a parent as a dependent but they have to meet the above requirements.
Are Social Security Benefits included?
As a general rule, Social Security benefits are not included in gross income. For more information about Social Security and Disability benefits, check out our other article, “Claiming Parents as Dependents If They Receive Social Security Benefits“. Be sure to make sure they are tax-exempt, because this could determine your eligibility to claim them as a dependent.
When determining if you provided over 50% of a parent’s total support, be sure to consider
- lodging
- food expenses
- utilities
- repairs
- household expenses
- clothing
- education
- medical and dental expenses
- travel
- recreation expenses
If you support a parent who meets all of the requirements listed above be sure to claim them when you file online this season!
Hello,
My mother in law is a U.S. Citizen and retired. She is 67 years old receiving very little in Social Security benefits and she decided to move back to her home country of birth, El Salvador to live out the remainder of her retirement years there instead of living in the States. My wife and I are the only ones supporting her, besides the little money she receives from Social Security we are providing well over 50% of her support
Can we claim her on our tax return if she is no longer living in the U.S.A? but still receiving the majority of her financial support from my wife and I?
Hi Octavio,
You may be able to claim your mother in law as a dependent. In order to do so, she must meet all four of the following requirements which are instated by the IRS:
1. She must NOT be considered a qualifying child dependent.
2. She must have either lived with you for the entire year as a member of the household OR be related to you as a child, stepchild, grandchild, grandchild or other descendant of one of your children (or stepchildren or foster children), son-in-law, daughter-in-law, brother, sister, half brother, half sister, stepbrother, stepsister, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, parent, stepfather, stepmother, father-in-law, mother-in-law, grandparent, and, if related by blood, aunt, uncle, niece, or nephew.
3. She must have earned less than $3,950 in gross income during the financial year.
4. You must have provided more than half of her total support during the financial year.
As long as ALL of these requirements are met, you can claim your mother-in law as a qualifying relative dependent on your taxes.
Hello,
My parents in law have moved in with us (Age 80 and 76) and we will claim them as dependents on our tax return as they satisfy all IRS conditions for it. They want to pay us some rent through their SSI (they have no other income). If do get additional SSI for rent, do we add that to our income in our tax returns? Any other impact on our returns?
Thank you.
Hi Nick,
This can be a tricky situation. When renting to relatives, you should only report it on your tax return if the rent you are charging (or in your case, what they are offering) falls within fair market value rent amount for your area. If not, and you claim expenses or the rent on your tax return, the IRS could penalize you. For more information, please refer to the IRS website page on rental income HERE. For your case specifically, you may want to take advantage of our free customer service support and give us a call to discuss in further detail. You can reach one of our tax professions Monday-Friday 10AM-5PM EST at 877-289-7580.
To claim both parents, the requirement is that they not file a joint return. Does that mean they are not eligible to file jointly? If they are married but not required to file, does that satisfy the requirement?
Hello David,
The IRS rules can seem a bit misleading. Basically, if you want to claim both parents on your tax return, they cannot file a joint return together. If they are filing a joint return, the IRS will not allow someone else to claim either of them as a dependent. This does not mean that they are ineligible to file a joint return at all; just that they can’t file jointly with you claiming them as dependents at the same time.
My mother lived with me from Jan thru Sept 2014 unitl her death. Can I still claim her on my 2014 tax return.
Hi Renee,
I am so sorry for your loss.
To answer your question, as long as your mother met all other qualifications to be claimed as your dependent, you can claim her for the entire tax year. There is no such rule according to the IRS for claiming a dependent for only a certain amount of months out of the year.
My Dad has lived with me for over a year, he collects $550 in SSI every month. He is not my qualifying child and I support him fully in every thing. Can I claim him?
Hi Queeny,
As long as the individual you are claiming meets all requirements provided by the IRS, you can definitely claim a relative as a dependent. The four guidelines that the individual must meet are as follows:
1. The relative cannot be your “Qualifying Child” and cannot be claimed by someone else.
2. The person must either have lived with you for the entire year as a member of the household (a person who is not actually related to you may meet the requirements in this way), or be related to you in one of the following ways: your child, stepchild, grandchild or other descendant of one of your children (or stepchildren or foster children), son-in-law, daughter-in-law, brother, sister, half brother, half sister, stepbrother, stepsister, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, parent, stepfather, stepmother, father-in-law, mother-in-law, grandparent, and, if related by blood, aunt, uncle, niece, or nephew.
3. The person must have made less than $3,950 in gross income during 2014.
4. You must have provided more than half of the individual’s total support during the year.