Can I claim deadbeat son on income taxes?

Question

My 28 year old son refuses to work and I support him. He is not a student and not disabled in anyway. Yes, I should not do this but anyway, the person who did my taxes the last two years told me that I could claim him as a dependant. My coworkers say I cannot do this and are adament about it. I say I can as the IRS has allowed me to do it the last two years. Who is correct?

Answer 1

The first response, and your coworkers, are wrong.  You can't claim him as a qualifying child, he's too old.  But there is another way to claim him - as a qualifying relative.  If his gross income for the year was under $3400 for 2007, and you provided over half of his support, you can claim him as a qualifying relative.

Dumb question I guess - have you considered booting him out?  This isn't really helping him OR you.

Good luck.

Answer 2

Does the IRS truely know?  I doubt it.  And if they did, I'm sure they would audit you.  From what I know, no, Your son is over 25.  Therefore, he can't be claimed on insurance or taxes.  And he isn't disabled, so, no.

Why don't you kick him out of the house and stop complaining.   You enable him to be a slacker by allowing his behavior to continue.  Kick him out, set some boundaries and tell him to get a job.  Wow, 28 and you're still supporting him?  Maybe you should have your head examined.

Can I come live with you?  I am 26 and work but if I can have someone like you support me and allow me not to work and enable me to be a slacker- that would be awesome.  Your son "refuses" to work?  Or is it you who "refuses" to set down any rules in your house?  Can you blame your son for being a loser?  You allow him to be one.  Reread your own question as if you were a stranger.

Answer 3

Judy, Wayne, tax preparer - correct

Coworkers, other answerers - incorrect

There are two types of dependents these days, Qualifying Child (QC) and Qualifying Relative (QR).  Your son does not fall into the QC category, but may fall into the QR.  If all of the following are true, your son is your QR and can be claimed:

1) You can not be claimed by anyone else as their dependent

2) Your son must be a US Citizen (or resident alien or US national or resident of Mexico or Canada for some part of the year)

3) Your son can not be someone else's QC (he can't be anyone's QC, so this is not an issue)

4) Your son must be related to you (definitely) OR live with you the whole year.  (notice the "OR".  A lot of people think this is AND.  It isn't.  That means, you can claim a relative even if they don't live with you, and it also means you can claim a total stranger if they do live with you the ENTIRE year.)

5) Your son must have a gross income below the Exemption limit.  (someone else's answer listed these amounts...but for 2007, it is $3,400...if he has no income, this is a no-brainer...we are talking income, not gifts)

6) You must provide over 50% of your son's support

Based on what you said, I would quite comfortably agree that your son can be claimed by you.  If you have not been claiming him, you may want to go back and amend your tax returns.  I found out that a friend of mine was not claiming her son.  I amended 3 years of tax returns and got her back over $1,000 in each year.  Why?  Because not only did she get  the $3,400 exemption from her income, she also got to switch from Single to Head of Household, and she qualified for the Retirement Savers Credit.  Sweet, huh?  To top if off, the IRS gave her interest.

Answer 4

Your co-workers are correct.  The IRS may not have caught up with you yet, but they probably will; you are under no legal obligation to support the wastrel, and that is what counts.

Answer 5

You tax preparer is correct assuming his income was low enough.

If his income is under $3500 for 2008, yes you can claim him as a dependent.  The amounts for 2007 and 2006 were $3400 and $3300 respectively, I believe.

Friends and co-workers are almost always wrong when they give tax advice.