Can I claim my 2 nephews if no else is claiming them?

Question

They dont live with me. So would it be legal?

Answer 1

If you are talking about claiming your nephews in your taxes then No. It would be illegal. They must be living with you at least 6 months out of the year. Although, I've heard of people claiming children to avoid paying to much taxes. But the risk of being audited by the IRS is just not worth it.

Answer 2

To claim a dependency exemption for a qualifying relative, the following dependency tests must be met:

The member of household or relationship test,
The citizen or resident test,
The joint return test,
The gross income test, and
The support test.

The first test is the member of household or relationship test. To meet this test, a person must either live with you for the entire year as a member of your household or be related to you. The Form 1040 Instructions and Form 1040A Instructions list all relatives who meet the relationship test. Your spouse is never considered your dependent. A person is not considered a member of your household if, at any time during the tax year, your relationship with that person violates local law. If a person was born or died during the year and was a member of your household during the entire part of the year he or she was alive, the person meets the member of household test.
The second test is the citizen or resident test. To meet this test, a person must be a citizen or national of the United States, a resident of the United States, or a resident of Canada or Mexico.
The third test is the joint return test. Generally, you are not allowed to claim a person as a dependent if he or she files a joint return. However, you may claim a person who filed a joint return merely to claim a refund of tax. This exception applies if neither the person nor the person's spouse is required to file a return and no tax liability would have existed for either the person or the person's spouse if each had filed a separate return.
The fourth test is the gross income test. Generally, you may not claim a person as a dependent if the person's gross income equaled or exceeded the exemption amount for the tax year. Gross income is all income in the form of money, goods, property, or services that is not exempt from tax.
The fifth test is the support test. To claim a dependency exemption for a person as your qualifying relative, you generally must provide more than half of that person's total support during the calendar year in which your tax year begins. Special rules apply to multiple support agreements and to children of divorced or separated parents, or to children of parents who have lived apart at all time during the last six months of the year.
You must include a valid social security number, individual taxpayer identification number (ITIN), or adoption taxpayer identification number (ATIN) for each dependent claimed on your tax return or the exemption will be disallowed. Also, if you are a dependent of another person, you cannot claim any dependents on your return.

Answer 3

To claim your nephews as dependents under the qualifying relative criteria, you have to meet ALL these criteria:

1) Member of Household or Relationship Test - No problem. Nephews count.
2) Children under age 19 OR student under 24 OR less than $3,200 of income
3) Support Test -- This is the tough one. You must provide bear the cost for more than 50% of the nephew's food, shelter, clothes, etc.
4) US Citizen OR US Resident OR Canadian resident OR Mexican resident
5) In most cases, your nephews being married would disqualify you from claiming them.

Answer 4

You will have to carefully review the circumstances of each nephew and possibly have a release of dependency for each one signed. There are circumstances whereby you can claim them. Get the 2005 tax booklet and read carefully the section on dependants: or Pub 17 for the same info.

Answer 5

No, it would not be legal. They fail the residence test for claiming them as dependents. The IRS is coming down really hard on false dependency claims, so don't gamble it, you wouldn't find out for a couple of years. By then, you would acrue interest and penalties and on top of that the government has filed numerous lawsuits seeking injunctions against individuals and preparers who prepare false or fraudulent federal tax returns claiming false dependency support.

Answer 6

No

How do you know that no one is claiming them? Also, are they on some form of government support?

What you are talking about doing is tax fraud, illegal, and a cost to the rest of society.

Answer 7

No. Even if you provide more than half their support, they would have to live with you for at least half of the year.

Answer 8

You should be able to claim regardless of where they reside, but there are stipulations, get an IRS manual from www.irs.gov to determine rules and guidelines for claiming dependents.

Answer 9

Unless you provide over 50% of their support, NO.

Answer 10

Go ahead I give you premission