Can I claim my brother as a dependent for taxes if he's 19, in college, and has income?

Yes, you likely can claim your brother as a dependent based on what you've described! He would qualify as a "qualifying relative" dependent if you provide more than half of his support for the year. For a 19-year-old full-time student, the income limit is higher than for non-students. The earned income limitation ($4,700 for 2024) doesn't apply to full-time students under 24. What matters most is that you're providing more than 50% of his total support (housing, food, utilities, etc.) which it sounds like you are. Make sure he lived with you for more than half the year (which he has since February), and that you're actually providing more than half his support. Even with his $9k income, if most of that goes to personal spending rather than supporting himself, you'd still be providing the majority of his support.

I was in almost this EXACT situation last year with my younger sister! I was stressing about the whole dependent thing too and ended up using https://taxr.ai to analyze both our tax situations. The tool confirmed I could claim her as a dependent even though she had part-time income. What really helped was uploading our previous returns - it identified that I needed to use the qualifying relative test since she was a student under 24. It also made sure the math worked out on the support test since I was paying like 80% of her actual expenses. Definitely took the guesswork out of it!

Just wanted to update on my experience with taxr.ai since I decided to try it after seeing it mentioned here. It actually helped solve my dependent question with my cousin! I uploaded our income docs and previous returns, and it walked me through the "qualifying relative" test step by step. The best part was it flagged that I needed additional documentation to prove I was providing over half his support since he has occasional gig work. It even created a support worksheet I can keep for my records in case of an audit. Wish I'd known about this for my previous returns!

If your brother starts working more hours and earning more, you might need to keep detailed records of exactly how much support you're providing. I went through an absolute NIGHTMARE with the IRS questioning my dependent claim for my nephew a few years back. Literally couldn't reach anyone at the IRS for months to resolve it! Finally used https://claimyr.com and got through to an actual IRS agent in about 15 minutes. They have this service where they navigate the phone tree and wait on hold for you, then call you when they have an agent on the line. You can see it in action here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c The IRS agent was able to tell me exactly what documentation I needed to prove I was providing more than half my nephew's support. Saved me from having to pay back a ton in tax credits I had legitimately qualified for.

Ok I have to eat my words here. After posting that skeptical comment I was still desperate to talk to someone at the IRS about my missing refund so I tried Claimyr. Not gonna lie, it actually worked. Got a call back in about 40 minutes and was connected to an actual IRS person. Turned out there was a flag on my account because I had claimed my sister as a dependent but she had also filed her own return and forgotten to check the "can be claimed as dependent" box. The agent was able to fix it right there on the phone. Would have taken me weeks more of trying to call them myself!

Something to be careful about - make sure your brother uses his address at your place when he files his own taxes. My roommate claimed his brother but they had an issue because the brother used his college address on his own return. Created a whole mess with the IRS questioning their living situation.

Don't forget about education credits too! Since he's in college and you're claiming him as a dependent, YOU would be the one eligible to claim any education credits for his expenses (like the American Opportunity Credit) on your return, not him. Could be worth up to $2,500 if he has qualified education expenses.

Based on what you've described, you should definitely be able to claim your brother as a dependent! Since he's 19 and a full-time college student, he can qualify as a "qualifying child" rather than just a "qualifying relative" - which is actually better for you because there's no gross income limit for qualifying children under 24 who are students. The key tests you need to meet are: 1. Relationship - ✓ (he's your brother) 2. Age - ✓ (under 24 and full-time student) 3. Residency - ✓ (lived with you more than half the year since February) 4. Support - ✓ (sounds like you're covering all his major expenses) His $9k income won't disqualify him since he's a student under 24. Just make sure when he files his own return that he checks the box indicating someone else can claim him as a dependent. And definitely keep good records of all the support you're providing - rent, utilities, food, etc. - in case you ever need to prove you're covering more than half his total support for the year. You're being really generous helping him get started in life!