So my mom and her sister at a dispute about claiming her son. Backstory: So my cousin moved in with us here in Texas from California when he was about 12 along with his sisters while his mom went to Alaska for work. they've had little contact with each other by phone nor have they physically seen each other since he left. Naturally, she was given custody/guardianship. Fast forward 7 years and he's now 19, finished high school a year prior, no college, no job. He's been asked to apply anywhere like kroger, McDonald's, pizza Hut for some kind of income since he's just been a stay at home kid. So my mom got fed up with him being a NEET and kicked him out mid December to live with his sister in Texas as well. So now that taxes are nearing his mom now wants to claim him, but they've still yet to see each other since he first moved. My mom's stance is that she's taken care of him up allof last year and that she'd claim him this last year. I'm not taking sides because I don't want to get between this drama between family, but I was just curious who should get the claim. I mean they're not even going to get a lot from it, but it's such a big deal to them.
Do they live with you? Your child must live with you for more than half the year, but several exceptions apply.
He lived with us all but the part of December before he left. He lived with his sister for about a month to this day. He hasn't live with his mom in 7 or so years. Off topic, your handle is the nickname of my cousin. (the sister of the brother I'm talking about). Found it funny.
Misread the family tree. Looks like his mom can't claim him as dependent. Your mom can, but need to meet other requirements. https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-too...-a-Dependent-on-Your-Tax-Return/INF12139.html
If I remember it correctly, your mom should be able to claim your cousin as a dependent since he stayed with you guys for more than six months. Try looking up the IRS website for more info.
How can your aunt claim him if he's now living with his own sister after living with your mom? Short answer is she likely cannot. Essentially, you need to determine to whom your cousin is the “qualifying child” In general, to be a taxpayer's qualifying child, a person must satisfy four tests: 1. Relationship — the taxpayer’s child or stepchild (whether by blood or adoption), foster child, sibling or stepsibling, or a descendant of one of these. 2. Residence — has the same principal residence as the taxpayer for more than half the tax year. 3. Age — must be under the age of 19 at the end of the tax year, or under the age of 24 if a full-time student for at least five months of the year. 3. Support — did not provide more than one-half of his/her own support for the year. If a child is claimed as a qualifying child by two or more taxpayers in a given year, the child will be the qualifying child of the parent.
Sounds like your mom wins and your cousin's mother is SOL. For the sake of family harmony, your mom might want to take a pass anyway if the money isn't significant so that her sister doesn't feel like her son's being stolen from her. (Or, she could tell her sister that and secretly claim him on her return anyway.) But really you should stay out of it. Sounds like a lot of resentment over the parenting and non-parenting of this kid, and the tax is just a proxy war. This would have been an issue for your aunt for years now, though. She hasn't been able to claim her son legally for the past several years.
Thanks, I don't claim anybody to but myself and I'm still sort of new to this thing. Lol I agree with you completely, but my aunt has barely made an effort to be with him. I don't think she cares about sending her son away. I think she feels like the money is being "stolen" from her, even though my mom has provided for him since he was sent here.
By the way, that age thing gets me. He's 19 already and turning 20 this may so shouldn't all this bickering be moot? He's not even a full time student.
Yeah that is what I was thinking he actually doesn't pass #3 if he isn't going to school. So he would have to file on his own.
if he's disabled at all, these rules really go out the window pretty quickly. i'm not sure what the tax definition of "disabled" is and how liberally it could be applied (would ADHD be "disabled" - i don't know)
