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April 26, 2020
Question

I would like to claim my sister as a dependent and my girlfriend

  • April 26, 2020
  • 1 reply
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Claim two dependents

1 reply

Hal_Al
Employee
April 26, 2020

It is possible to claim both of them.  But the rules are complicated.  The TurboTax interview is capable of determining if they qualify.  There are 6 rules that must be met for each of them.  For an unrelated person (your girl friend) to be your dependent, it is necessary that you lived together, all year. 

 

There are two types of dependents, "Qualifying Children"(QC) and standard ("Qualifying Relative" [QR] in IRS parlance even though they don't have to actually be related). There is no income limit for a QC but there is an age limit, student status, a relationship test and residence test. Only a QC qualifies a taxpayer for the Earned Income Credit and the Child Tax Credit. They are interrelated but the rules are different for each. If your sister is younger than you, she may qualify as either a QC or QR. 

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See full rules at: https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tools/tax-tips/Family/Rules-for-Claiming-a-Dependent-on-Your-Tax-Return/INF12139.html

summarized below

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A child closely related (sister counts)to a taxpayer can be a “Qualifying Child (QC)” dependent, regardless of the child's income, if:

  1. He is under age 19, or under 24 if a full time student for at least 5 months of the year, or  is totally & permanently disabled
  2. He did not provide more than 1/2 his own support
  3. He lived with the relative (including temporary absences) for more than half the year
  4. He is younger than the relative (not applicable for a disabled child)
  5. If the child meets the rules to be a qualifying child of more than one person, you must be the person entitled to claim the child as a qualifying child (this essentially means that you have the parent’s permission to claim the child, if the child also lived with the parent more than half the year)
  6. If the parents of a child can claim the child as a qualifying child but no parent so claims the child, no one else can claim the child as a qualifying child unless that person's adjusted gross income (AGI) is higher than the highest AGI of any of the child's parents who can claim the child.

A person can still be a Qualifying relative dependent, if not a Qualifying Child, if he meets the 6 tests for claiming a dependent:

  1. Closely Related OR live with the taxpayer ALL year  
  2. His/her gross taxable income for the year must be less than $4200 ($4150 in 2018)
  3. The taxpayer must have provided more than 1/2 his support

In either case:

  1. He must be a US citizen or resident of the US, Canada or Mexico
  2. He must not file a joint return with his spouse or be claiming a dependent of his own
  3. He must not be the qualifying child of another taxpayer