Question

3) Give an example of a situation where a taxpayer's child can be considered a dependent of the taxpayer through the qualifying relative rules, but will not qualify through the qualifying child rules. 4) Review the tests for "support" in the text. There is a subtle, yet important, difference in the way support is considered in order to be a "qualifying child" versus a "qualifying relative." What is that difference? 5) Divorced parents are in the situation of having to determine which one of them is entitled to consider the child(ren) as a dependent. Each child can only be a dependent of one of the parents (if the parents are not married filing jointly with each other). According to the tax code which parent is entitled to claim the dependent child for purposes of filing status? Are there any legitimate means of overriding the tax code?

Answer 1

Hello, below are the answers for the above questions:

3) As per the qualifying relative rule, is a person who meets the IRS requirements to be you're, tax payer's  dependent for tax purposes. As per the above case, a child as a qualifying relative cannot be the tax payer's qualifying child & also cannot be someone else's qualifying child. They would be considered as a qualifying child only when all the conditions are met. Example for a qualifying relative as a child: Adult child. If the tax payer's son was 24 & single and was unemployed & also lived at home all the year long. In this case, he is too old to become the qualifying child but because his income was below $4200 & also the tax payer provided more than half of his support in that year, he can be the tax payer's child under the act & can be claimed as the tax payer's dependent.

4) Difference between a qualifying child & qualifying relative with respect to the word: SUPPORT. Support test is required in case of a qualifying child. To meet this test, the child must, not have provided more than half of his own support. There are special rules for a child that is the qualifying child of the tax payer. In case of a qualifying relative, following tests are required:

• dependent tax payer test is conducted.
• relationship tests
• member of household tests
• relationship tests
• joint return tests
• citizenship test
• not a qualifying child test
• gross income test
• support test: tax payer's will meet this test, if the tax payer provided more than half of a person's total support for the entire year. Total support items include; food, clothing, shelter, education, medical expenses. Compare the dollar value of the support provided by the tax payer with the total support the person received from all sources. Support test example include: Ms Grace is a 72 year old lady & lives in an apartment. Last year she received $3000 in non taxable social security benefits & $400 in taxable interest income, all was used for her support. Ms Grace's daughter, Ms Ann paid $4800 during the year towards her mother's support. Total support includes, taxable & non taxable income. Ms Grace's total support is $8200 ($3000 + $400 + $4800). Ann paid more than half of her mother's support which being ( $4800/$8200) = 59%. Ann can claim a dependency exemption for Ms Grace.

5) The parent , with who the child spends the most time with may claim as dependent after the divorce. The child should have lived with the parent for more than half the year to qualify as a dependent.