Exemptions/Dependents

For each person or dependent in your household, you are allowed to deduct $3,650.00 in 2009 as a exemption. If you are married filing jointly, you can claim an additional exemption for your spouse. But, what is the definition of a dependent?

The term dependent means either a qualifying child, or a qualifying relative. To qualify as a child, there are six tests that must be met.
(1) Relationship test - the child must be your son, daughter, stepchild, foster child, or a descedant of any of those, or, your brother, sister, half brother, half sister, stepbrother, stepsister, or a descendant of any of those listed,
(2) Age test - the child must be under the age of 19 at the end of the year and younger than you, a fullt-time student under the age of 24 at the end of the year, or, permanently and totally disabled at any time during the year, regardless of age,
(3) Residency test - child must have lived with you for more than half of the year. There are certain exceptions to this rule,
(4) Support test - the child cannot have provided more than half of his or her own support for the year,
(5) Joint Return test - the child cannot file a joint return for the year, and
(6) Special Test for Qualifying Child of More than One Person - If your qualifying child is not a qualifying child of anyone else, this test does not apply. If the child can meets the other five listed tests for more than one person, there the tiebreaker rules apply.
To determine which person can treat the child as a qualifying child, the following tie-breaker rules apply:
(a) If only one of the persons is the child's parent, the child is treated as the qualifying child of the parent,
(b) If the parents do not file a joint return together but both parents claim the child as a qualifying child, the IRS will treat the child as the qualifying child of the parent with whom the child lived for the longer periof of time during the year,
(c) If no parent can claim the child as a qualifying child, the child is treated as the qualifying child of the person who had the highest adjusted gross income (AGI) for the year,
(d) If a parent can claim the child as a qualifying child but no parent does so, the child is treated as the qualifying child of the person who had the highest AGI for the year, but only if that person's AGI is higher than the highest AGI of any of the child's parents who can claim the child.

These rules will generally apply, but there could be exceptions in your particular case.

to be continued...