Can my mother claim her son as a dependant on her tax return if not earned income?

[cslakans]

Arizona

My mom doesn’t usually file a tax return because she never owes the IRS money. But, I think she can for last few years that she never filed as it would be worth it if she claimed her son.

She is 72, her son was 52 (when he died in 2018 of health complications).
She has NO earned income but receives approx: $500 from Retirement Social Security and $500 from a teacher fund each month.
Her son was permanently “disabled” and received approx $500/month in Social Security Disability Pay.
Only those two lived together in a Motel Suite for years, with her obviously supporting him more.

I never thought she could, but I just read this while doing my taxes in TurboTax about “Support”:
“Keep in mind, it doesn't matter where the money comes from to support a person - it just has to be yours. It can be taxable or nontaxable income like social security. You don't have to be working in order to support someone”.

I looked online for more info, but just get lost in so much data and don’t feel confident with it. I believe they pass all tests, but can’t really get an answer on the fact her income is not earned, but more retirement and teacher fund.

1) Should she file her taxes for the years she could still file before he died and claim him as a dependent?
2) What years can she go back to file? He died July 27th, 2018 and we are now in filing TY 2019. I was thinking just TY 2017 & 2018?

My mother is on such a fixed income right now and I need to get her fully in Fla and into a new place together so I can take care of her. But we don’t have the money, so she could sure use the money if legally available to her, and I want to be sure we didn’t miss this opportunity. Thanks so much in advance!

 

[Just Blue]

@Taxing Matters

I tagged a tax attorney that volunteers here to help you.

 

[Taxing Matters]

Her son may qualify as her dependent using the qualifying relative test. See the discussion of the requirements for that starting on page 17 of IRS publication 501. He would not qualify to be anyone's dependent under the qualifying child test, so she met the first requirement of the qualifying relative test. She met the relationship test since he was her son. And if his entire income was Social Security disability income (SSDI) then the gross income test is met because he didn't have over $4,200 in gross income (SSDI doesn't get included in gross income, so if SSDI is all he had his gross income was zero.) So then the only question is whether she paid for over half his support. Given that her income wasn't a whole lot more than his, it's clear if she did or not without more details. She doesn't need earned income for him to be a dependent.

The problem is that even if he was her dependent there isn't any tax benefit for her as a result if her only income was Social Security and a $500/month teacher pension. That pension is taxable income, but only would amount to $6,000 in taxable income for the year. Her standard deduction exceeds that and drops her taxable income to zero. The only benefits she gets from him being a dependent reduces whatever tax owes after her standard deduction and other deductions, but since she wouldn't owe any tax once the standard deduction is taken there is no tax to reduce. Importantly there is no benefit she would get from him being a dependent that would give her a refund.

The one benefit here that could give her a refund even though she has no taxable income would be the earned income credit (EIC) But she has no earned income credit, so that doesn't help her. It was probably the EIC that you saw references to that required earned income.

 

[Dandy Don]

If you used Turbo Tax to compute your taxes and if you found it fairly understandable, you could also use it to compute what her taxes or lack of owing any taxes would be, and would also compute a refund or lack of any refund would be. Then you would have your answer.

 

[FlyingRon]

The Child Tax Credit is partially refundable, TM?

 

[LdiJ]

The Child Tax Credit is partially refundable, TM?

The Child Tax Credit (CTC) is not refundable, but if you are unable to take the full CTC because you did not have enough tax to credit it against, then you can take the Additional Child Tax Credit. The additional Child Tax Credit is capped at a maximum of 1400.00 per child.

 

[Taxing Matters]

The Child Tax Credit is partially refundable, TM?

LDIJ is correct, the child tax credit (CTC) is not a refundable credit, but the additional child tax credit (ACTC) is refundable. The problem here is that to get the CTC and ACTC the child must be under age 17 on December 31 of the tax year. The child here is age 52, so neither the CTC or ACTC are available. The OP could get the credit for other dependents, which is the same benefit as the CTC for older dependents (ODC), but like the CTC it is not refundable and there is no additional credit here that is refundable like there is with the ACTC. See IRS publication 972.

 

[FlyingRon]

Oops... I missed the part where the son was an adult.'

 

[LdiJ]

LDIJ is correct, the child tax credit (CTC) is not a refundable credit, but the additional child tax credit (ACTC) is refundable. The problem here is that to get the CTC and ACTC the child must be under age 17 on December 31 of the tax year. The child here is age 52, so neither the CTC or ACTC are available. The OP could get the credit for other dependents, which is the same benefit as the CTC for older dependents (ODC), but like the CTC it is not refundable and there is no additional credit here that is refundable like there is with the ACTC. See IRS publication 972.

I thought ron's question was a general one so I answered it generally. I did not realize that he hadn't caught the age of the dependent.

 

[Taxing Matters]

I thought ron's question was a general one so I answered it generally. I did not realize that he hadn't caught the age of the dependent.

I wasn't sure which it was, so I provided the full explanation as it would apply here to remove any possible confusion that might result, especially for the OP who might not have picked up on the distinction.

 

[cslakans]

Oh goodness, look at all the wonderful people helping and answering my question. I did not get an email of all these replies, so I’ll need to check my preferences in here. But, also what a wonderful forum as well. Thank-you all from the bottom of my heart. This question I wondered about for so long.

Yes, I was mixing up a dependent tax break with thinking if there was a dependent, then you get an EIC refund. I’m so happy with finally knowing, but saddened to hear it won’t help my mom and I move in together in our own place.

Just curious, what is the minimum amt of earned income along with her other, she could have had to get the EIC?

Also, she still has stuff in Az, but I got her here in Fla after my brother died. Unfortunately, I’m in a small place with no extra room so on a couch in back room. But, we have to move now which is best bc she needs a full bed. I’m about to file my taxes from last year, but I only made about 11k (my lowest income ever but was dealing with stuff). Since I supported her mainly for the full year, any chances I can claim her for an EIC? I’m thinking moms will fall under just getting a tax credit instead of EIC? (Sorry for my lack of tax knowledge here, but if you need a computer fixed, I can help you lol)

I will end up doing as one suggested, and plug in the numbers in TurboTax and see what it does. I just didn’t want us to file if incorrectly, but if the program prevents that, then I should be good.

Thanks again you wonderful people

 

[LdiJ]

Oh goodness, look at all the wonderful people helping and answering my question. I did not get an email of all these replies, so I’ll need to check my preferences in here. But, also what a wonderful forum as well. Thank-you all from the bottom of my heart. This question I wondered about for so long.

Yes, I was mixing up a dependent tax break with thinking if there was a dependent, then you get an EIC refund. I’m so happy with finally knowing, but saddened to hear it won’t help my mom and I move in together in our own place.

Just curious, what is the minimum amt of earned income along with her other, she could have had to get the EIC?

Also, she still has stuff in Az, but I got her here in Fla after my brother died. Unfortunately, I’m in a small place with no extra room so on a couch in back room. But, we have to move now which is best bc she needs a full bed. I’m about to file my taxes from last year, but I only made about 11k (my lowest income ever but was dealing with stuff). Since I supported her mainly for the full year, any chances I can claim her for an EIC? I’m thinking moms will fall under just getting a tax credit instead of EIC? (Sorry for my lack of tax knowledge here, but if you need a computer fixed, I can help you lol)

I will end up doing as one suggested, and plug in the numbers in TurboTax and see what it does. I just didn’t want us to file if incorrectly, but if the program prevents that, then I should be good.

Thanks again you wonderful people

You cannot claim your mother for EITC purposes. She does not qualify. She also likely is collecting Social Security and therefore may have had more income than you did for 2019 and therefore wouldn't be your dependent. It also appears that she did not live with you for the whole year, therefore, as an adult, she wouldn't be your dependent. And to top it off, you made less than your standard deduction (the standard deduction is 12k and you only made 11k) therefore you wouldn't have any tax to take the other dependent credit against.

 

[Taxing Matters]

You cannot claim your mother for EITC purposes. She does not qualify. She also likely is collecting Social Security and therefore may have had more income than you did for 2019 and therefore wouldn't be your dependent.

If you read the post, she had approx. $500/month Social Security and $500/month retirement income. So her total income would be about $12,000 for the year, and the OP's income is about $11,000 in earned income (though perhaps there might be other non earned income). But the fact that the mother had more income is irrelevant for determining if she is a dependent. Under the qualifying relative test what matters is how much each person paid for her support. Even with less income, if he paid more for her support than she did then he might qualify to claim her as his dependent. (The only way that mom could qualify as a dependent is by the qualifying relative test; mom is not the OP's child so the qualifying child test cannot be met here).

Also, you indicated that the fact that mom might not have lived with the OP for all 12 months of the year would disqualify her as a dependent. That too does not matter. She is the OP's parent and thus under the qualifying relative test she need not live with the OP at all to qualify as a dependent. You seem to be trying to apply rules from the qualifying child test here, and that's not the right test to apply.

And to top it off, you made less than your standard deduction (the standard deduction is 12k and you only made 11k) therefore you wouldn't have any tax to take the other dependent credit against.

But he's not asking about the ODC here, he's asking about EITC, which is a refundable credit.

However, it turns out you are correct that she does not qualify as his dependent for a reason you didn't mention. Under the qualifying relative test, the dependent cannot have gross income exceeding $4,200 for 2019. Here, the mother's pension is $500/month, or $6,000 for the year. That $6,000 in pension income is gross income and exceeds that $4,200 limit. If her gross income was less than $4,200 and if the OP paid over half her support for year (and we don't know how much of her support he provided) then she would have qualified as his dependent. See the chart for qualifying relative test on page 11 of IRS Publication 501.