Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Can I claim my mother if she is married but living with me? Details inside?

My mother and father had to move in with me last year due to them having financial issues. I pay a bit over half of all the bills for the household. My father does contribute because he draws Social Security Disability, my mother does not, but they are married. They do not file a tax return.





I am assuming since my mother does not draw social security, even though her husband does, and I provide more than half her support that I can claim her and file head of household.





Is this correct?Can I claim my mother if she is married but living with me? Details inside?
As long as they are not filing you can claim your mother and maybe even your father. Of the relevant points under the Qualifying Relative rule, the possible deal-breakers are:





1. Must have less than $3,650 in gross income in 2009, excluding non-taxable Social Security. (Mom is OK here if she has no income. Dad meets this test too as long as the SSD is his only income.)





2. Must have received more than half of their total support form you for the entire year. (This may disqualify Dad, as may his Medicare if he's eligible. How much of his SSD is used for Mom's support could also disqualify her. Run the support worksheet on page 20 of IRS Pub 501 http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p501.pdf for each of them to see if this is met for either or both of them.)





If you can claim either or both of them, you can file as HoH as well as long as you pay more than half of the cost of maintaining the home AND the home was their main home for the entire year. There is more information in IRS Pub 501, pages 7 - 9.Can I claim my mother if she is married but living with me? Details inside?
Yes, you can claim your mother if you provided more than half of her support, and she did not earn more than $3500 in 2008. It is not required that your mother lives with you. Read about Qualifying Relative.
You need to talk to an accountant. I think there are restrictions on who you are qualified to claim as a dependent.
You are correct provided some further restrictions are met.





In order to claim your mother, who has no gross income, you must pay for over half of her support. If she receives SSI or your father pays some of her expenses, that counts as support not provided by you. There is no requirement that she live with you.





If your parents file a joint return, it can be only to get a refund and no credits (such as the Credit for the Elderly and Disabled). Your mother should not take her own exemption if you claim her.





If you are not married, can claim your mother as your dependent, and you paid for over half of the costs of maintaining your home which was her main home for over half of the year, then you can file as head of household.





It is not necessary that your mother live with you for the entire year to be head of household. If you maintained your dependent parent's home (not your home) for the entire year, then you could be head of household even though your parent did not live with you.





All of the above also applies to your father. However, it appears that he pays for over half of his own support, so he is not your dependent.

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