Last year most of my family lived together. My mom and I signed the lease and took care of most of the bills, etc. She's already filed and claimed my little brother (who is 18, goes to school, and doesn't work). Could I also claim him, considering we both provided for him? From what I read from the IRS, it seems possible, as the rule about one of us providing more than 50% of his support doesn't apply to son/brothers.
2007-02-08 02:45:27 · 4 answers · asked by bobelok 1 in Business & Finance ➔ Taxes ➔ United States
A person can only be claimed as a dependent once per year. If your mom claimed him as her dependent, you cannot claim him.
2007-02-08 02:49:42 · answer #1 · answered by jseah114 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
NO, two people can't claim the same dependent. Not ever.
If your mom didn't claim him, then you might be able to, and you're right, under "qualifying child" there isn't a requirement that the person claiming them provides more than half of his support, just that the person himself does not, and a brother counts as a qualifying child. But the last line of the chart, the one that says if he is the qualifying child of more than one person, to take the exemption you must be the person entitled to take it, is what stops you from claiming him - that's what limits the claiming to only one person. And under the IRS "tie-breaker" rules, if two eligible people claim the same dependent and one is the parent and the other isn't, the parent gets it, and the other one is disallowed.
In some cases for a qualifying RELATIVE there is something called a multiple support agreement - that's for cases where two or more people each could claim a person except for the support test, and each provides over 10% of the person's support, but together they provide more than half of that person's support. Under a multiple support agreement, the eligible people decide which of them will claim the dependent, and all sign a form to that effect, then the ONE person selected claims the dependent.
2007-02-08 11:06:13 · answer #2 · answered by Judy 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Read it again! It's VERY specific in stating that a person can be claimed as a dependent by ONLY ONE taxpayer.
If two taxpayers claim the same dependent, both returns will be delayed while the IRS investigates the situation. The IRS will then determine who gets the exemption (mom will win) and process the returns.
2007-02-08 11:04:14 · answer #3 · answered by Bostonian In MO 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The Brother can only be claimed by one person the rule states that you must have provided over half of the qualifying individuals support,lived at least over half the year with them etc... Also be careful because if she claimed your brother and she provides over half of the household support she qualifies for head of household and this can be claimed by only one person per residence.
Tax Pro
2007-02-08 11:18:29 · answer #4 · answered by Matthew R 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋