Can I claim my domestic partner on my taxes?

Question

He is a full time student with no income. What about his school expenses can I claim them? We have lived together for almost two years.

Would It be more beneficial for financial aid purposes for me to claim him or for him to do his own taxes.
I make 40,000. He is an anglo 33 yr old.
It would be great to get a bigger refund but maybe he would get more grant support from financial aid the other way? Who else may I ask about this?

Answer 1

It sounds like no one else is able to claim him?

You then have to meet one of two sets of rules, either to claim him as a qualifying child or as a qualifying relative. Sounds like teh second one is the set you'll go by. You have to pass 5 tests:

1 Provide more than half support

2 Your "partner's" income must be less than $3300 for 2006

3 The relationship test for "qualifying relative" includes any person, relative or not, who has been a member of your household the entire year.

4 He's not allowed to file a joint return with someone else.

5 He has to be a citizen of the US, Canada or Mexico.

If you meet all of these requirements, it looks like you can claim him as your dependant and you get to be the "head of household" until you decide you want to improve his status from "domestic partner" to "domestic spouse".

College expenses can be claimed by the person who pays them as long as they are for you or your dependant.

Answer 2

If a person has lived with you for 12 months in 2006, has income under $3,300, has been supported more than 50% by you, meets citizenship requirements, is not married and filing jointly with a spouse, and cannot be claimed as a child on another person's return, then you can claim the person as a dependent.

If the person is your dependent then there may be education tax benefits available to you, either the Tuition and Fees Deduction, Hope Credit, or Lifetime Learning Credit.