Can I claim my 24 year old disabled child who receives SSI as a dependent?

Forum|Forum|6 years ago
June 1, 2019
6 replies
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Others have said yes because SSI income is not reported on ANY tax return. But don't you have to provide more than 50% support for them to qualify as a dependent? Even though SSI may not have to be reported, those who receive SSI have to spend it or it gets suspended. There for if they receive $864 a month and spend it, there is no way a parent could prove providing 51% support. Please explain, thank you.

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VolvoGirl

Is it really ssi or regular SS or SSDI? Those are 3 different things. Does she get a SSA-1099 for it?

rockbowman1

Can I deduct monthly apartment rental expenses for adult disabled child?

ToddL99

No, personal housing costs are not deductible on your tax return.

If you are paying the rent for an adult disabled child, then that cost is part of your support for the child. It provides part of the justification for you claiming the child as a dependent, but is not deductible on your return.

@rockbowman1

Hal_Al

It makes a difference whether he has Social Security disability Income (SSDI) or Supplemental Security Income (SSI). SSDI is his money and SSI is third party support (welfare)

crystalaustin197

ssi

maglib

permanent and total disabled are considered qualifying children regardless of age so as long as they did NOT provide more than half their own support and that's vague when the child lives in the parents home.. My mother claims my sister and my sister has a trust with unearned income, she lives in my mothers home and does not pay rent, so regardless of her income, my sister does NOT provide over half of her own support even with SSD she receives. My mother benefits as HOH. She has claimed my sister who is 53 years old. Her unearned income has reached in some years due to the trust from $20k-$120k and still my mom claims her as again there is no rent. My sister uses her money for personal purposes and savings as some day my mom won't be there and my sister will have to live off the trust and her savings.

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Opus 17

There are two types of dependents.

Your son can be a qualifying child dependent if he is 1) permanently and totally disabled, and 2) if he provided less than half his own support. A child is permanently and totally disabled if both of the following apply.

•He or she can't engage in any substantial gainful activity because of a physical or mental condition.

•A doctor determines the condition has lasted or can be expected to last continuously for at least a year or can lead to death.

This determination is separate from any determination made by any other agency. (For example, my college has a senior faculty member who is a quadriplegic but is still gainfully employed running the hospital, and is therefore not disabled for tax purposes.)

For the support test, both SSI and SSDI are usually considered support provided by the child, but not always. The dilemma is explained here. http://www.stepnowskilaw.com/DependentExemption.html. Note that the IRS says both " If a child receives social security benefits and uses them toward his or her own support, the benefits are considered as provided by the child" and also "payments based on the needs of the recipient won't be considered as used entirely for that person's support if it is shown that part of the payments weren't used for that purpose."

However, if the child is not permanently and totally disabled, they can not be a qualifying child dependent. They might be a qualifying relative dependent. To be a qualifying relative dependent, the child has to have taxable income less than $4,000, and you must provide more than half of the child's support. Note that this support test is different than for qualifying child. It doesn't matter where the child's support comes from (government, church, grandparents, other charities, etc.) You need to pay more than half of the total, no matter where the rest comes from. There is a worksheet in publication 501 to help you calculate the child's living expenses and whether you provide more than half. You can include a share of rent or mortgage and home utilities as will as the more obvious expenses. https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p501.pdf