An article was published in the Columbus Dispatch about claiming a parent as a dependent on your income tax return. Parents can be claimed as dependents.
Sunday, April 12, 2009 5:45 AM
By Eileen AJ Connelly
Q: In December 2007, my mother-in-law moved in with us. She collects a small pension, less than $100 a month, and Social Security. Because we provide shelter, food and basic necessities, can I claim her as a dependent? No other sibling is providing support.- Curt W. Anderson, Philadelphia
A: “The simple answer is yes,” said Daniel D. Morris, managing partner of Morris & D’Angelo, an accounting firm in San Jose, Calif. The Internal Revenue Service allows a taxpayer to claim as a dependent a parent or other relative living in the same household, if the taxpayer provided 50 percent or more of the relative’s support.Morris said the percentage of support provided can be figured by considering a fair market value for shelter, food, transportation, medical care, clothing and other necessities, and comparing it with income from Social Security, pensions and so on.
“If mom’s staying in a room, and you could rent that room for $500, that’s $500 a month of support,” he explained. You cannot add in portions of utilities such as heat, and the 50 percent threshold must be met, he said. “For you to qualify, you have to spend $1 more than she’s spending on herself.”Taxpayers providing more than half the support to parents who are not living with them also can claim a dependent, Morris said, whether the parents are in their own home or a nursing home.