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Can I mark my parents as dependents on my tax return?
21/f
I know this question sounds funny. My family has been struggling financially for awhile and my mom has asked me if she could mark me as a dependent. But it turns out, my mom couldn't even afford any of the bills and my sister and I have been paying for them (including the mortgage), since she only makes $300/month. My dad is retired and he gets about $780/month in his retirement funds. My sister didn't have a job pretty much all year around and I spoke to my boss and his brother (who's in accounting) and they told me that since I make the most money in the household and they pretty much depend on me, I can mark them all as dependents.
Can I mark my parents as dependents if they're married? And I know I can mark my sister and my dad (because he's retired), but what about my mom since she's still working?
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The answer to your question is yes. I use turbotax to do my taxes each year. According to their software if they are dependent on you for over fifty percent of their needs; the mortgage, utility and grocery bills, would count towards the major portion of their needs. Then yes you can take them both for dependent's on your taxes.
Make sure to have plenty of documentation such as cancelled checks. If you use online bill pay to pay the Mortgage and utility bills start downloading the information showing the payments and bank statements. Print them out and put them in a safe place. Taking your parents as dependents will be a red flag to the IRS the first time you do this so you can expect to receive an audit or a request for documentation.
Don't let this request scare you. As long as you have good documentation the IRS will allow the deduction. If mom or dad should be disabled have letters from their doctors as well. If you are called in for an audit bring copies of the originals as well as the originals with you. Leave the copies with them never the originals.
These type of audits sometimes take the IRS two years to call for so make sure you keep this information in a safe place. I keep these papers in a fire resistant lock box under my bed.
Please listen to me. If you have the documentation the IRS will hate you for it will be a waste of their time but they will allow the deductions. If you have the documentation they cannot disallow the deduction. This is one reason I use my Banks online banking service for all bill payments as they keep records for 7 years online. If I lose or am missing something I can retrieve it from my bank.
Since I am also disabled I pay for all medications and doctors visits with my bank Debit card so the Bank has a record. I suggest you do the same for any medications or doctors visits for your parents.
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You'd have to talk to a tax consultant. I know in divorces that the parent who files first claiming the child as their dependant, even if they are not living with the child, the IRS will accept that and it goes in the system and the other parent who files their dependant child gets their tax return kicked out by the IRS as something wrong with it and now can't file cus someone beat them to it. I know it doesnt sound fair. What your mom wants to do doesn't sound fair either. So if there is a way you can claim them on your tax return but she goes and files first, then you're out of luck. Thats how it works. So if I were you, I'd check with a tax professional because the rules may change by state. My ex used to do taxes and the rules changed every year too. So no average Joe is going to know whether you can file this year even if it was ok in the past. Things could have changed. I hope they do let you file as the one who is taking care of the rest of the household. The term 'head of household' may not refer to age or relationship in the family but rather, the one who is heading up all the care of the family. Of course the tax person would need to know about any earnings. If the mortgage is in their name but you pay on it and they don't, you may not be able to file certain things on your tax form even though you are paying for it. If your sister is paying half the bills too, she can not also attempt to claim them. As you see, theres more questions and complications than easy answers.
Your mom earns so little, that's like a parent claiming a high school /college age child who earns an amt like that per month. Obviously not enough for the child to really do anything with and definitely not be able to pay all their own bills, so they are really reliant on the parents and their $300. usually won't affect the parents tax return, so in reverse, you would think the same rules would apply, but the only one who will know for sure is a tax proffessional who can research that for you
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