Can I claim my son as a dependant. He graduated high school May 22, 2016. He is not in college and is working.

Maybe. To be able to claim your son as a dependent he must meet the tests for either a qualifying child or a qualifying relative.   TurboTax will ask you all the pertinent questions and let you know whether you can claim your son as a dependent.

[Most likely your son will satisfy all the requirements of qualifying child, depending on his age at the end of 2016.]

Qualifying Child

Five tests must be met for your son to be your qualifying child and a dependent:  relationship, age, residency, support, and joint return.

1.  Relationship - A child must be:

• Your son, daughter, stepchild, foster child, or a descendant (for example, your grandchild) of any of them, or
• Your brother, sister, half-brother, half-sister, stepbrother, stepsister, or a descendant (for example, your niece or nephew) of any of them

2.  Age - A child must be:

• Under age 19 at the end of the year and younger than you (or your spouse if filing jointly),
• A student under age 24 at the end of the year and younger than you (or your spouse if filing jointly), or
• Permanently and totally disabled at any time during the year, regardless of age.

3.  Residency - Your child must have lived with you for more than half the year. [If he was away at college, he is still considered living with you.]

4.  Support - The child can't have provided more than half of his or her own support for the year.

5.  Joint return - To meet this test, the child can't file a joint return for the year.

Qualifying Relative

If your son does not meet the tests for qualifying child (perhaps because of his age), he may be able to qualify as a qualifying relative

1.      Not a qualifying child - He doesn't meet the tests listed above.

2.      Member of household or relationship test – To meet this test, a person must either:

• Live with you all year as a member of your household; or
• Be related to you in one of the ways listed under Relatives who don't have to live with you in IRS Pub. 501.   [Your son doesn’t have to live with you.]

3.  Gross income test - To meet this test, a person's gross income for the year must be  less than $4,050.  Gross income is all income in the form of money, property, and services that isn't exempt from tax.

4.  Support test - To meet this test, you generally must provide more than half of a person's total support during the calendar year.  You figure whether you have provided more than half of a person's total support by comparing the amount you contributed to that person's support with the entire amount of support that person received from all sources. This includes support the person provided from his or her own funds.

For more information, see IRS Pub. 501 - Exemptions, Standard Deduction, and Filing Information .