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Whether it’s an aging parent who needs assistance or a grown child living back at home, millions of middle-aged Americans are supporting adult family members. You’re extremely generous if you’re one of the people aiding a loved one in need: It might be financially difficult for you when you should be saving for your own retirement, paying off your mortgage or building an emergency fund.
Fortunately, a handful of tax deductions and credits can help ease the financial burden of supporting another adult (other than your spouse). However, the adult you’re taking care of must qualify as your dependent to claim these tax breaks.
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Several requirements must be satisfied before you claim an adult as a dependent on your tax return. How they’re related to you, where they live, how much support you provide, and even their income are all factors in determining if an adult can be claimed as your dependent for tax purposes. But if you can satisfy all the requirements, you can cut your tax bill by hundreds — or even thousands — of dollars.
A dependent can either be a “qualifying child” or a “qualifying relative.” Different rules apply for each type of dependent. Since adult dependents generally fall under the qualifying relative category, I’ll focus on the requirements for them.
You must pass the following seven tests for an adult to be considered a qualifying relative. If you can check all seven boxes, the adult you’re helping can be claimed as a dependent on your tax return.
1. Dependent taxpayer test
To pass this test, you can’t be claimed as a dependent on someone else’s tax return. If you’re married and filing a joint tax return, your spouse can’t be someone else’s dependent, either.
There is one exception: You can still pass the test if the person who can claim you (or your spouse) as a dependent only files a tax return to get a refund of income tax withheld or estimated taxes paid during the tax year.
2. Joint return test
You generally can check this box if the adult you’re supporting claims any filing status on his or her tax return other than “married filing jointly.”
However, this requirement is satisfied if a joint return is filed solely for the purpose of claiming a refund of taxes paid or withheld.
3. Citizen or resident test
You’ll clear this hurdle if the adult you’re supporting is a U.S. citizen, U.S. resident alien, U.S. national, or a resident of Canada or Mexico.
A resident alien is someone who either:
- Is a lawful, permanent resident of the U.S. under the country’s immigration laws at any time during the tax year in question, provided this status hasn’t been revoked or determined to have been abandoned
- Has been physically present in the U.S. for at least 31 days during the tax year, and 183 days during the three-year period that includes the tax year and the two immediately preceding years
A U.S. national is someone who is not a U.S. citizen but who owes allegiance to the U.S. (e.g., American Samoans and Northern Mariana Islanders who chose to become U.S. nationals instead of U.S. citizens).
4. Not a qualifying child test
Although a qualifying relative can be any age, a person can’t be a qualifying relative if they can also be claimed as a qualifying child by you or anyone else.
A person is generally your qualifying child if the first three tests described above are satisfied, and he or she:
- Is your son, daughter, stepchild, foster child, sibling, half brother, half sister, stepbrother, stepsister or a descendant of any of these relatives
- Is either 18 or younger at the end of the tax year, 23 or younger and a student at the end of the tax year, or any age if permanently and totally disabled
- Lived with you for more than half of the tax year
- Didn’t provide more than half of their own support for the tax year
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