Teen Taxes?

Question

Can a 16 year old claim their siblings as dependants? I am under the assumption, that no matter what age, you cannot claim anyone unless you have proof that you have paid rent, food, and clothing for someone in the past year. How is it legal for a 16 year old to claim their brother or sister unless they have actually done all of these things?

Answer 1

It's possible but would be very uncommon. One of the primary rules for claiming dependents is that you can't claim a dependent if you could be claimed as a dependent by another taxpayer. Usually there's a parent or grandparent or older sibling in the home who could claim the 16 year old, so the 16-year old couldn't claim anyone else as a dependent. If this teen has a parent (or grandparent, aunt, uncle or older sibling) who is in the home, and the teen isn't providing over half of his OWN support, then he or she could be claimed by the parent, so could not claim any dependents, siblings or anyone else. And the rules say COULD BE claimed as a dependent, not IS claimed, so even if nobody claims the teen, that doesn't allow the teen to claim someone else as a dependent.

Under the new rules for claiming dependents that went in a year or so ago, there are two kinds of dependents, qualifying child and qualifying relative. To claim someone as a qualifying relative, you must have provided over half of their support, among other rules. To claim someone as a qualifying child, the rule is a little different - the dependent must not have provided over half of his/her OWN support. There are other rules: being closely related in ways that are listed by the IRS, and the age of the dependent, plus the person claimed has to have lived with the person claiming them for over half the year.

The rules under which the previous responder was allowed to claim family members have changed - whether the mother works or not no longer is the issue. Even if she doesn't, that doesn't mean that someone else can automatically claim the others as dependents.

So yes, it's possible, but would be a very rare situation.

Answer 2

It is legal if it is true, or there is no claim to the contrary. The age is the person is not in question, The parents failure to provide support and the amount of funds the person earn is where the rub will come in.

When I provided the money at 17, to pay the rent for my sick mother, and my brothers and sisters. The only question that was asked was: DOES YOUR MOTHER WORK? Since this answer was no, I was able to take the deduction. Based on the amount of money I made, just one brother or sister netted me the same return as claiming the entire family.