Can my adult son be filed as another person on my return or do I have to file him as my son

Unless your adult child is age 24 or under and a full time student or permanently and totally disabled, you can't claim him as a Qualifying Child.  However, you may be able to claim him as a Qualifying Relative.  See the following TurboTax article for more information:

Rules for Claiming Dependents on Taxes

There are two types of dependents--Qualifying Child and Qualifying Relative.    If your adult son is not permanently and totally disabled he can be a qualifying relative for whom you get the $500 credit for other dependents if he meets the criteria to be a qualifying relative.

WHO CAN I CLAIM AS A DEPENDENT?

You can claim a child, relative, friend, or fiancé (etc.) as a dependent on your 2024 tax return as long as they meet the following requirements:

Qualifying child

• They're related to you.
• They aren't claimed as a dependent by someone else.
• They're a U.S. citizen, resident alien, national, or a Canadian or Mexican resident.
• They aren’t filing a joint return with their spouse.
• They're under the age of 19 (or 24 for full-time students).
• No age limit for permanently and totally disabled children.
• They lived with you for more than half the year (exceptions apply).
• They didn't provide more than half of their own support for the year.

Qualifying relative

• They don't have to be related to you (despite the name).
• They aren't claimed as a dependent by someone else.
• They're a U.S. citizen, resident alien, national, or a Canadian or Mexican resident.
• They aren’t filing a joint return with their spouse.
• They lived with you the entire year (exceptions apply).
• They made less than $5050 in 2024.   (Not counting Social Security)
• You provided more than half of their financial support.

When you add someone as a dependent, we'll ask a series of questions to make sure you can claim them. There may be other tax benefits you can get when you claim a dependent.

Related Information:

• What does "financially support another person" mean?