Definition: A taxpayer may claim a person as a child if certain tests are met.
Uniform Definition of a Qualifying Child
A qualifying child may enable a taxpayer to claim several tax benefits. These include head of household filing status, the exemption for a dependent, the child tax credit, the child and dependent care credit and the earned income tax credit. Prior to 2005, each of these tax benefits defined a qualifying child differently.To be a qualifying child, a person must meet four criteria:
- Relationship — must be the taxpayer’s child, stepchild, adopted child, foster child, brother or sister, or a descendant of one of these.
- Residence — must have the same residence as the taxpayer for more than half the tax year.
- 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, or be permanently and totally disabled at any time during the year.
- Support — did not provide more than one-half of his/her own support for the year.
Tie-Breaker Tests
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;
- if more than one taxpayer is the child’s parent, the parent with whom the child lived for the longest time during the year,
- if the time was equal, the parent with the highest AGI;
- if no taxpayer is the child’s parent, the taxpayer with the highest adjusted gross income (AGI).
