I have my girlfriend on my medical benefits at work, should I claim her as a dependent on my taxes?

Answer 1

A person qualifying as your dependent:

generally may be your child, stepchild, adopted child, grand child, great-grand child, son or daughter in law, father or mother in law, brother or sister in law, parent, brother, sister, grand parent, step-parent, stepbrother or sister, half brother or sister, and, if related by blood, uncle, aunt, niece, or nephew. The above relatives do not have to live with you.
Also, any person, whether or not you are related to them, who is a member of your household for the entire tax year, except for temporary absences;
must receive less than $3,300 of gross income in 2006, unless the dependent is your child and either under age 19 or a full-time student under age 24;
must receive more than one-half of his or her support from you;
cannot file a joint tax return with his or her spouse, unless the joint tax return is filed solely to obtain a tax refund when neither the child nor the spouse is required to file a tax return; and
must be a U.S. citizen or national, or a resident of the U.S., Canada, or Mexico.

Answer 2

I assume your girlfriend is an adult. She is an independent person until you get married. She will be filing her own income taxes and therefore is most likely not a qualified dependent for you. I would read the IRS guidelines for claiming dependents thoroughly before you try to claim her. Unless I am mistaken, you have to PROVE that you personally provide 51% or more of her support in order to claim her as a dependent. And I'm not sure you can claim an unrelated adult as a dependent in any case.
I seriously doubt you can do it legally, but maybe you should talk to a tax attorney or CPA.

Answer 3

Maybe. You must meet ALL of the following tests:

1. She must not be the qualifying child or qualifying relative of another taxpayer.
2. She must not file a joint return with another taxpayer. (There is a rare exception to this rule but I won't go into the details here.)
3. She must not have more than $3,400 in gross income for all of 2007. Exclude only non-taxable Social Security from the gross income test.
4. She must have lived with you for ALL of 2007.
5. You must have provided more than 50% of her support.
6. Your relationship must not violate local law, even if that law is unenforced.

Answer 4

It isn't as simple as Yes or No.

Did she live with you all year?
Did she make under $3400 this year?
Is she not claimed by anyone else?
Does your relationship not violate local law?

If you can answer "yes" to ALL of these questions, you should be able to claim her.