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, i was wondering because i wanted to see if i could claim my mom. She is currently disabled and she was once recieving ssi but they took it away and they are still processing to see if she can get it back. Its been almost 1 year she has not had any help from ssi and she recives a pension from her father who died. I am currently paying half the mortgage, her telephone bill, the light bill and the water bill at the moment and she is left not even with a dollar..can i claim her on my taxes as a dependant? She does not work, she does not fike taxes and her pension is not taxed either?
Hi Ramses Lee,
Based on your comment, it sounds as though you should be able to claim your mother as a dependent relative. However, I suggest reading the requirements to do so in the above article under section titled, “Is your parent a qualifying relative for tax purposes?“.
I am claiming my mom as my dependent. However it is not giving me a refund for her only a tax exemption deduction. Why is this?
It can be that you did not have enough taxes withheld during the year by your employer. If your with-holdings are not greater than your total taxes you may have an income tax liability. Claiming your mother as a dependent and receiving the dependent exemption may help to lower your taxable income, however, this does not guarantee you to receive a refund.
hi, my name is tony. Both my parent’s they come to live with me over 7 month ago and they both are over 65! They have 0 income here in usa just the masshealth health insurance! can I claim them as a dependent? if yes do they lose the health insurance?
Hi Tony,
Your parents’ health insurance should not be dropped if you claim them as a dependent. However, I suggest double checking with the health insurance provider for their specific rules on the subject. They will be able to assure you based on your parents’ policy with them.
My father was living with me the past few years and recently moved out in September. I have provided more than half of his support for that time.
My question is will I still be able to claim him for 2016??
His only income is SS.
Hi Dan,
Based on what you have stated above, you shouldn’t have a problem claiming him as a dependent. Just be sure that he meets all requirements according to the IRS and that he won’t be filing his own tax return and claiming a personal exemption for himself. If he files and claims a personal exemption, your return will be rejected and you will not be able to claim him.
Hi, my name is Marco. I recently turned 18 and have had suspicion that my mom been claiming me, and have not been living with her for over for about 2 years. She has not supported me for these 2 years (estimate) I recently have a job and live with my sister. My questions are, “Can I file tax fraud?”, and “Where can I find who has been claiming me for the past 2 to 4 years?”. And if she has been claiming me: “What do I have to set-up to get evidence proving she has been claiming me?”.
Hi Marco,
In this situation, it may be difficult to prove that your mother was not eligible to claim you as a dependent. It is best to contact the IRS before proceeding with anything. Based on information you provided above, the most logical way to go about this would be to file tax returns for the past two years, claiming the personal exemption for yourself. By doing this, you would be alerting the IRS that more than one person is claiming the exemption for one person (which is not allowed). Since she has filed her returns and has been accepted by the IRS already, your return will be rejected. You’ll want to include documentation along with your return when mailing it in that explains the situation a bit. It is important to remember that the IRS will respond best to the facts of the situation as opposed to providing your thoughts or any hearsay. As I mentioned before, it will be best if you contact the IRS directly from the very beginning as this can become a tedious time-consuming process before you see the light at the end of the tunnel. They will let you know exactly which documents to mail along with your tax returns.
My mom lives with me and received social security and pension. The total is not more than $11,850 for both. Her pension has taxes deducted. Can I claim her as a dependent although her pension is taxed and if it does not equal $4000? She is born in 1947.
Hi Dion,
The IRS has a number of rules that must be met in order for you to claim a qualifying relative dependent. As long as these rules are met, then you can claim your mother as a dependent on your tax return.
1. She must not be a qualifying child dependent to you or anyone else.
2. She must either live with you all year as a member of your household OR be related to you as acceptable to the IRS (mother is acceptable relationship).
3. She must have a gross income less than $4,000.
4. You must provide more than 50% of financial support for her.