Claiming a dependent on your tax return can significantly reduce your 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:tax liability and make you eligible for valuable tax credits. These credits include the child tax credit and child and dependent care credit that reduce your 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:taxable income. Claiming a dependent can also qualify you as 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:head of household, a more beneficial filing status than filing as a 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:single taxpayer.

You must ensure that you and your dependents meet all the 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Internal Revenue Service (IRS) requirements before claiming som🐼eone as a dependent on your tax return, however.

Who Is a Tax Dependent?

A dependent is generally defined as someone you financially support and who meets specific IRಌS criteria. Not everyone you take care of qualifies as a dependent.

The IRS allows two types of tax dependents, each wi꧒th its own set of rules:

• Qualifying children
• Qualifying relatives

Claiming Children As Tax Dependents

A child must meet all six of the following tests to be claimed as a child dependent on your 2024 tax return that you'll file in 2025.

• Citizenship Test: The child must be a U.S. Citizen, U.S. resident alien, U.S. national, or a resident of Canada or Mexico. Adopted children who are not U.S. citizens but live with you for the full year are also eligible.
• 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Relationship Test: A qualifying child can be your biological child, adopted child, stepchild, or foster child. Siblings, half-siblings, stepsiblings, or descendants of any of the above such as a grandchild or nephew also qualify.
• Residency Test: A qualifying child has to live with the taxpayer for more than half the year. Temporary absences due to school, vacation, a custody arrangement, an illness, military duty, or business are permitted provided that your residence is their home residence even while they're away.
• Age Test: A qualifying child must be under the age of 19 or under 24 if they're a 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:full-time student for at least five months of the year. There is no age limit for children who are permanently and totally disabled. They must also be younger than you and your spouse if you file a joint return unless the child is permanently and totally disabled.
• Support Test: You must provide more than half of the child’s financial support. You must be sure you can prove this if you're claiming an individual who has a job and partially takes care of themselves.
• Joint Return Test: A dependent doesn't count as a qualifying child if they're married and file a 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:joint return with their spouse. The only exception to this rule is if the dependent and the spouse aren't required to file taxes and only do so to get a refund.

Additional tests for tax credits

Certain 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:tax credits like the Child and Dependent Care🌌 Credit or Child Tax Credit have additional or ജmodified requirements.

• 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Child and Dependent Care Credit: The dependent must be younger than age 13 unless they're permanently or totally disabled. Only the custodial parent is eligible to take the child and dependent care credit if the 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:parents are divorced even if the noncustodial parent claims the child as a dependent on their tax return.
• 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Child Tax Credit: This credit is $2,000 for qualifying children under the age of 17 at the end of the 2024 tax year, the year for which you'll file in 2025. Your annual income can't exceed $200,000 or $400,000 if you're married and filing a joint return.
• 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Earned Income Credit (EIC): For EIC eligibility, the child must meet four of the basic dependent tests for EIC eligibility: relationship, residency, age, and joint return. The child must have lived with you in the U.S. for more than half the year in addition to meeting these four basic tests.

Tiebreaker rules fo﷽r determining 𒉰a qualifying child

The IRS uses the ꦕfollowing tiebreaker rules to determine who gets the benefits if two taxpayers are both eligible t🍌o claim the same child.

• The child will be the qualifying child of the parent if only one taxpayer is the child's parent.
• The parent with whom the child lived for the longest period during the year gets the benefit if both taxpayers are the child's parents and they don't file a joint return.
• The parent with the highest 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:adjusted gross income (AGI) claims the child if the child lived with both parents for an equal amount of time.
• The taxpayer with the highest AGI claims the benefit if neither taxpayer is the child's parent.

Claiming Relatives As Tax Dependents

Some dependents don't fall into the category of a qualifying child but they can still qualify under the IRS rules for qualifying relatives. In addition to the joint return and citizenship tests, a 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:qualifying relative must meet these additional criteria:

• Qualifying Child Test: The individual cannot be the qualifying child of anyone else. A dependent is only a qualifying relative if they don't meet the qualifying child tests for you or another taxpayer.
• Member of Household or 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Relationship Test: A qualifying relative can be a child or the descendant of a child, a sibling, a stepsibling, a descendant of a sibling, a parent or stepparent, an ancestor of a parent such as a grandparent or great-grandparent, an uncle or aunt, or a father-in-law or mother-in-law. These relatives don't have to live with you if you provide more than half their total support for the year.
• 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Gross Income Test: The dependent's income can't be more than $5,050 in the 2024 tax year.
• Support Test: The taxpayer must have provided more than half of their relative's support. This is different from the rule for qualifying children. The taxpayer must prove that the child provided half or less of their own support. The taxpayer must prove that they, not the relative, provided more than half of the dependent's support for a qualifying relative.

The Bottom Line

Determining whether you can claim someone as a dependent can be tricky. Accurate claims of dependents can significantly reduce your taxable income and help you qualify for tax credits that lower your overall tax burden. You can contact the IRS for clarification at 1-800-829-1040 or call a local IRS office if you're unsure whether someone qualifies.