Claiming A Qualifying Relative On Your Tax Return

Written by Milton Boothe | Posted in Individual • Tax Deductions • Tax Planning

For you to claim a person as your Qualifying Relative, that person must either be:

(a) Related to you (generally by blood, adoption, or through marriage), or

(b) Be a member of your household for the entire year.

There are five tests to determine if you can claim a person as your Qualifying Relative. These tests are as follows:

1) The Not a Qualifying Child Test

If a child meets all the tests to be your qualifying child, that child cannot also be your Qualifying Relative. Also, if that child qualifies to be the Qualifying Child of another person, you cannot claim that child as your Qualifying Relative. For instance, you can’t take the qualifying relative exemption for your child if:

• The child is a full-time college student, lives with you, and meets all the tests to be your qualifying child.
• The child lives with your parents and meets all the tests to be their qualifying child.

2) The Member of Household or Relationship Test

You can claim as a dependent on your tax return, any person who is a member of your household, even if you are not related to that person (through blood, adoption, or marriage). To qualify as a member of household, however, the person must meet the following tests:

• The person must be a member of your household, and
• The person must live with you for an entire year, and
• The relationship between you and the dependent does not violate local law.

3) The Gross Income Test

You cannot claim a person as a Qualifying Relative if he or she had gross income for the tax year of $3,950 (2014) or more. This is the equivalent of one dependency exemption. This is true even if you provided most or all of that person’s support. Gross income is defined as all income in the form of money, property, and services that is not exempt from tax. Gross income includes unemployment compensation and certain scholarships, but does not include welfare benefits and nontaxable Social Security.

4) The Support Test

Since a dependent is perceived to be someone you support, that person should not be making enough money to support himself or herself. You meet the support test if you can prove that you provide more than half of a person’s total support for the entire year. Support includes amounts you spent to provide food, lodging, clothing, education, medical and dental care, recreation, transportation, and similar necessities for your dependent.

5) The Citizenship Test

To claim a person as Qualifying Relative, that person must be a citizen or resident alien of the United States, Canada, or Mexico.

The primary objective of this article is to empower taxpayers to learn to do their own taxes. For more information on how to claim your exemptions, grab yourself a copy of “Doing Your Own Taxes is as Easy as 1, 2, 3,” ($6.98) on TaxConnections.com.

Milton Boothe

Milton G Boothe is an IRS Enrolled Agent with over twenty years of tax and financial accounting experience, including several years at PricewaterhouseCoopers. He is also a British certified Chartered Accountant. He is currently employed in private tax practices where he helps people resolve their tax problems, minimize their taxes, and routinely represents the interests of taxpayers before the Internal Revenue Service. As an Enrolled Agent (EA) Boothe is a federally-authorized tax practitioner who has technical expertise in the field of taxation and who is empowered by the U.S. Department of the Treasury to represent taxpayers before all administrative levels of the IRS for audits, collections, and appeals.
Milton G Boothe is also the author of several tax publications, wherein he encourages people to empower themselves by learning to do their own taxes.