Dependent credit - can I claim him?

Question

Can I claim our 19 year old step son who lived with us half a year and we provided all of his support as a dependent. I think we were turned down last year, he is not a full time student.

Answer 1

Be careful. You said, "Dependent Credit" which is IRS-speak for day care. What you meant was can you claim him as a dependent.

The answer is, no matter how old he is or how long he lived with you, as long as he earned less than $3,300 AND you paid for over 1/2 of his expenses, then YES, you can claim him as your dependent (Qualifying Relative).

Now, everyone else said age is important. So, that must mean they are right and I'm wrong. Why don't you go to the IRS document I listed below and see for yourself. When you are claiming a Qualifying Relative, you will see that there is no residency requirements for real, blood relatives such as a step son. That means, you can claim him even if he lives with you for zero days. Also, note that there is absolutely no reference to age. That means you can claim him regardless how old he is. You can claim someone who is 100 years old if you qualify for the other conditions. There is a long running misconception held by over 50% of the population that one must be under 24 and a full time student or under 19. That is the condition for a Qualifying Child, not a Qualifying Relative. People are missing out on a lot of dependents because of this misconception.

Answer 2

For the child tax CREDIT, the child has to be under the age of 17. For the dependent EXEMPTION, the child can be over the age of 18, but must be under the age of 24 AND a full time student. If your step son is not a full time student, then you cannot claim him as a dependent. You may be able to claim him as a dependent under the member of household test, but this would require that he lived with you for the FULL year.

Answer 3

Anyone older than 18 must be in school full time to be able to claim as a dependent.

Answer 4

no