Can I Claim My Spouse as a Dependent if They Were Unemployed

Qualifying Relative as a Dependent

Aaron Burden, Unsplash @aaronburden

You can merits someone as a dependent on your tax return if, according to IRS rules, they are a qualifying relative - swain/girlfriend, sibling, etc. - or a qualifying child dependent. A Qualifying Relative is a person who meets the IRS requirements to be your dependent for tax purposes. If someone is your Qualifying Relative, then you tin claim them as a dependent on your tax render.

Despite the name, an IRS Qualifying Relative does non necessarily have to be related to yous. Bank check the RELucator tax tool below to find out if someone qualifies; information technology'south that easy!

The RELucator revenue enhancement tool will help you determine if someone is your qualifying relative and therefore your dependent. Just answer the "Aye" and "No" questions until yous reach a determination.

Start the RELucator At present

Also, check out the DEPENDucator if y'all are not certain nearly the status of the relative or if the person in question is not a qualifying relative. Use our other gratuitous tax tools to discover your IRS filing status, find out if yous can claim tax credits, and more!

Qualifying Relative Requirements

An individual must meet all 4 of these requirements in social club to be considered your Qualifying Relative on your tax return:

1. Not a Qualifying Child: The individual cannot be your Qualifying Kid and cannot be someone else's Qualifying Child. Not sure? Use our gratuitous DEPENDucator tax tool to find out who is a qualifying child. A person is a Qualifying Kid if they encounter all the requirements, whether or not they are claimed every bit a dependent on a tax render.
2. Human relationship: The person must either have lived with you for the unabridged year as a member of the household (a person who is not really related to you may run into the requirements in this way), OR be related to you lot in i of the post-obit ways :
   • Your child, stepchild, grandchild, or other descendant of one of your children (or stepchildren or foster children). A child whom you legally adopted is e'er considered to be your child.
   • Your son-in-law, daughter-in-law, blood brother-in-law, or sister-in-law
   • Your brother, sister, half-brother, half-sister, stepbrother, or stepsister
   • Your parent, stepfather, stepmother, father-in-law, mother in law, grandparent, and, if related by blood, aunt, uncle, niece, or nephew. Also note that, for the purposes of this requirement, divorce or decease does not alter any human relationship which was established past spousal relationship (e.g. son-in-law, girl-in-law, etc.).
3. Gross Income: The person must take fabricated less than $iv,300 in gross income during 2021. This corporeality will be $iv,400 in 2022.
4. Back up: You lot must take provided more than half of the individual's total support during the year. Support includes coin spent for food, shelter, wear, medical or dental expenses, education expenses, and other similar items. To help yous in determining if y'all have provided more than half the support for a person, here is a Worksheet for Determining Support that you can use.

How To Claim a Qualifying Relative on Your Return

When you prepare your return on eFile.com, you can enter your information on the Dependent screen. Be certain to answer all the questions advisedly and pay item attention to the questions on the Advanced Options link at the bottom on the Your Dependent section to make sure that your dependent gets added to your return correctly.

Qualifying Relative Special Cases

In some situations, the IRS has outlined special cases which allow a person to be claimed equally a qualifying relative despite the requirements listed above. See the special cases examples below:

Temporary Absences

A person is still considered to be living with you during any period of time when either of yous are temporarily away from home due to school, business, armed services service, medical care, vacation, or in the case if a child has been kidnapped. If a Qualifying Relative is placed in a nursing home permanently or indefinitely, they are still considered to be abroad on a temporary absence.

Birth or Death

If someone died at any time during the year, but lived with you as a member of your household for the rest of the twelvemonth, they are considered to have lived with you for the entire twelvemonth. If a kid was born at any time during the twelvemonth, simply lived with y'all as a member of your household for the rest of the twelvemonth, they are also considered to have lived with yous all year. In the case of either nascency or decease, any related hospital stay is considered a temporary absence.

Income Non Used for Support

Any income that someone receives, but does not spend on their own support, is not counted as role of their income used for their ain support in the support requirement for a qualifying relative. For example, if a person had $two,700 in income, merely only spent $2,400 for their ain support (e.yard., lodging, meals, article of clothing) and you spent over $2,400 for their support, then you accept provided more one-half of their support.

Multiple Support Understanding

If yous and i or more other people together provide more than one-half of a person's support and that person meets the requirements to be the Qualifying Relative of each of you, you can agree among yourselves who gets to merits the person as a Qualifying Relative. It can be either i of yous who provides more than 50% of the person'southward support, but simply 1 person can get to claim the dependent. Each of the other persons providing support volition demand to sign a statement agreeing not to claim the dependent for the yr. Whoever claims the dependent should continue the signed statements for their records.

If you claim the dependent under such a multiple back up agreement, yous should include with your return the eFileIT Form 2120 Multiple Support Declaration. When you prepare your return on eFile.com, you tin can include this class and eFileIT with your return.

Qualifying Relative Examples

Can I merits my married woman as a dependent? What well-nigh my beau or girlfriend? Can I claim my parents as qualifying relative dependents? See the examples below for more than information.

1. Developed Child - Your son was 24 and single at the end of 2021. He was unemployed and lived at home all year long. He is besides quondam to exist your Qualifying Child, but because his income was nether $4,300 and yous provided more than half of his support for the yr, he is your Qualifying Relative and can be claimed every bit your dependent.
2. Parent - Your female parent was retired and had no income all twelvemonth. She lived on her ain, only you provided more than half of her support for the year. She is your Qualifying Relative and you can claim her as a dependent.
3. Girlfriend or Beau - Your girlfriend (or boyfriend) lived with you all year and their income was less than $4,300. Their parents provided some support for them, just yous provided more than half of their support. The person is not nether 19 years quondam and is not a full-time college student, then they are not the parents' Qualifying Child. He or she is your Qualifying Relative and you can merits them as a dependent.
4. Kid of Girlfriend/Boyfriend - Your girlfriend's 8-year erstwhile son, who is non your child, lived with yous and your girlfriend all twelvemonth. Your girlfriend had no income and y'all provided more than than half of her son's support. He is your Qualifying Relative and you lot can claim him equally a dependent. This aforementioned scenario works if it is a kid of your boyfriend who lived with you all yr and you provided half the child's support. In the past, you lot would not exist able to merits your girlfriend's child as a Qualifying Relative considering the child was considered to exist the Qualifying Child of his or her mother, even if she did not merits the kid as a dependent. Only the IRS has revised this and at present allows the beau with whom the mother and child lived all year (or the girlfriend with whom the father and child lived all twelvemonth) to claim the child as a dependent if the parent's income is so low that she (or he) does non need to file a tax return.
5. Hubby/Wife - Your spouse, whom you live with, does not piece of work and y'all generate all the income for your family through work and provide all of their support. You can non merits your spouse every bit a dependent or qualifying relative; when yous are married, you lot will file a joint return or a separate return. Regardless, the IRS and states do non allow yous to claim your spouse every bit a dependent. By and large, married filing jointly is more beneficial.

Can You lot Merits a Tax Credit for Having a Not-Kid Dependent?

Y'all tin claim a nonrefundable revenue enhancement credit, the Credit for Other Dependents, for $500 per dependent that is your qualifying relative (non your qualifying child)and does non qualify you to claim the Kid Tax Credit. The credit corporeality begins to stage out at a maximum income of $200,000 ($400,000 for married filing jointly taxpayers).

This credit is available for Tax Years 2018-2025 and may have age restrictions. Continue checking this folio for updates on this credit as the IRS releases them.

If a person does not authorize equally your qualifying relative, you can all the same claim them as a dependent if they are your qualifying child. If they are not your qualifying kid nor your qualifying relative, and then you cannot claim them equally a dependent. Dependents are good news when information technology comes to your tax return because they may qualify you for other tax deductions and credits.

Run into Also

• IRS Publication 501 - Dependents, Standard Deduction, and Filing Data.
• How does a dependent file a revenue enhancement return? If your dependent has their own income, they would have to report this on their own render.
• Tax benefits and savings for students; if yous claim a dependent that is a student, you may exist able to claim student tax credits or deductions on your revenue enhancement return.
• Sign up for an eFile.com business relationship and report your dependents and tax information on your tax return; we handle all the forms and calculations for you!

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Source: https://www.efile.com/qualifying-relative/

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