Should Have Put No One Can Claim Me as a Dependent but Didn't

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Who Tin can You Claim every bit a Tax Dependent?

The IRS knows that some taxpayers provide their children and relatives with financial back up. That's why the government offers folks with dependents the opportunity to reduce their tax burden. Being able to claim someone every bit a dependent may significantly lower your tax bill, particularly if y'all authorize for a tax suspension like the Earned Income Tax Credit or the Child Tax Credit. And a financial advisor can help you have an actress stride to marshal your tax strategy with your overall fiscal goals and your dependents.

Bank check out our income revenue enhancement estimator.

Not sure whether you tin claim a child or family unit fellow member as a dependent? Here's a breakdown of what the IRS has to say about the thing.

What Is a Tax Dependent?

A tax dependent is a child, spouse, family unit member, and even an unrelated friend who needs your financial support and lives with y'all.

Dependents tin can be claimed by a taxpayer every bit an exemption to reduce the amount of taxes that will have to be paid. The IRS calls this a dependency exemption, and each one will subtract the corporeality of income that you volition owe taxes on.

Allow'southward accept a expect at some of the IRS rules that decide who can qualify as a dependent.

Who Is Considered a Taxation Dependent?

The IRS uses marital status, other types of relationships, and how much support is provided in a tax yr, among other factors, to decide whether a taxpayer can claim a dependent. In club for you to merits someone as a dependent, you need to have provided more than half of the person'south financial back up for the twelvemonth. Information technology'southward of import to notation, yet, that not anybody you support qualifies as a dependent.

Here are ii general rules for all dependents:

• Yous can claim a child or relative as a dependent equally long every bit no one else can merits that person as a dependent. Generally, you cannot claim someone equally a dependent if he or she is married and filing a joint tax return. But in that location are a couple of exceptions to that rule. You may be able to claim a joint filer every bit a dependent if he or she only filed jointly in society to get a refund of estimated taxes that were paid or taxes that were withheld.
• Dependents must exist a U.S. citizen, a resident conflicting, a U.S. national, or a resident of United mexican states or Canada.

Related Article: How Many Allowances Should You Claim?

What It Means to Have a Qualifying Child

The IRS says you lot can claim children as dependents equally long as they run across the following requirements:

• The child must exist related to you. For example, your son or daughter, stepson or stepdaughter, blood brother or sister, stepbrother or stepsister, nephew or niece, or grandchild can exist considered a dependent.
• In most cases, the child you're trying to claim must live with y'all for more than than vi months out of the twelvemonth. Merely at that place are exceptions for children who are abroad from home considering they're sick, attending higher, serving in the military, starting a business or taking a vacation.
• The kid you're trying to claim has to come across an age test as well. Children can just be claimed as dependents if they are under the age of xix. All the same, you tin can claim full-time students as dependents until they turn 24.
• Children who are permanently or completely disabled can exist claimed as dependents for their entire lives if they run into the other criteria for qualifying children.

What It Means to Have a Qualifying Relative

A qualifying relative is a fellow member of your family or a friend who is designated by the IRS every bit a tax dependent. This means that a taxpayer must provide fiscal back up for that relative or friend during nigh of the year.

Here are some general rules and exceptions for qualifying relatives:

• If you have a relative who relies on you for nearly of their financial help – be it a parent or nifty aunt twice removed – you lot can claim them as dependents as long as no 1 else claims them. But keep in mind that if your relative is considered a qualifying kid (even if no one actually claims them), you cannot merits them as a dependent on your tax return.
• In order for you to claim a relative as a dependent, that family unit fellow member cannot take a gross annual income above $4,300 in 2021. Gross income includes all earned and unearned income.
• The relative who you want to claim as a dependent must also live with you lot for the unabridged year. There are exceptions for mothers, fathers, nieces, nephews and other relatives.
• If someone died during the twelvemonth, you can merits that relative as a dependent for the whole year equally long as they lived with you upward until their death.

For a full list of relatives who you can claim fifty-fifty if they don't live with y'all, you'll need to review IRS Publication 501.

Related Article: How to File Taxes

Bottom Line

Before you file taxes, you lot'll need to detect your dependents' Social Security numbers. That fashion, you can include that information on your revenue enhancement return. Y'all cannot claim someone as a dependent if you don't accept access to a Social Security number, individual taxpayer identification number (ITIN) or an adoption taxpayer identification number (ATIN) for that person.

Tax Planning Tips

• Finding a qualified financial advisor doesn't have to be hard. SmartAsset'southward free tool matches you with upward to 3 financial advisors in your area, and you can interview your advisor matches at no toll to determine which one is correct for you. If you're ready to notice an advisor who can help you achieve your financial goals, get started now.
• A fiscal advisor can aid continue your taxes low by harvesting your tax losses, which means that y'all can utilise your investment losses to lower taxes on capital gains.
• Use SmartAsset's income taxation calculators to assistance y'all figure out your federal, land, and local taxes. And if your taxes are complicated, it's a skillful idea to work with a professional person tax preparer or a tax prep program.

Photo credit: ©iStock.com/monkeybusinessimages, ©iStock.com/kali9, ©iStock.com/DragonImages

Liz Smith Liz Smith is a graduate of New York Academy and has been passionate about helping people brand better financial decisions since her college days. Liz has been writing for SmartAsset for more than than iv years. Her areas of expertise include retirement, credit cards and savings. She as well focuses on all coin bug for millennials. Liz'south manufactures accept been featured across the web, including on AOL Finance, Business Insider and WNBC. The biggest personal finance mistake she sees people making: not contributing to retirement early in their careers.

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