Who Qualifies as a Dependent on Your Tax Return?
Reflect on your year. Were there any individuals who could be claimed as dependents in your tax return or can you be claimed as a dependent in someone else’s tax return?
A dependent provides a taxpayer one of the best opportunities to qualify for credits and deductions when filing a tax return but it is not always very clear whether someone can be claimed as a dependent in someone else’s tax return without reviewing the requirements. This short article along with the diagram below will provide us with some clarity to define who can be a dependent.
To start, you cannot claim any dependents if you can be claimed as a dependent in someone else’s tax return.
You cannot claim anyone who files a married filing joint tax return unless they filed their tax return only to claim a refund for their income tax withheld during the year.
The dependent needs to be a US citizen, US resident, US national, or resident of Canada or Mexico. For US resident purposes, immigration status does not define residency, but rather, the number of days lived in the US.
Someone can be claimed as a dependent in three different categories, let’s walk through the diagram to determine who would qualify under the first two categories.
o Qualifying child
o Qualifying relative
o Other dependents
With the latest 2018 tax reform, the standard deduction amount was raised, and exemptions were eliminated, making qualifying relative dependents less relevant in the effect of the result of the tax return for many taxpayers although they still may be very beneficial for some other taxpayers. Is important to note that the credits you qualify for will depend on the type of dependent you are claiming, and other factors related to the requirements of each credit, such as income amount, income type, etc.
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