Can I claim my girlfriend as a dependent on taxes if I pay for most of her expenses?

The key here is understanding the IRS definition of a "qualifying relative" dependent. For your girlfriend to be your dependent, she needs to meet several tests: 1) She must have lived with you all year (which sounds like she did) 2) Her gross income must be less than $4,700 (for 2025 filing) 3) You must provide more than half of her total support 4) She can't be claimed by anyone else as a qualifying child The tricky part is determining who provides more than half her support. You need to add up ALL support - housing, food, education, medical, clothing, transportation, etc. If her parents are paying for health insurance, that can be substantial. My suggestion would be to have an honest conversation with her parents. The person who provides more than 50% of total support should claim her. Maybe create a spreadsheet showing what you pay vs. what they pay annually. Many families work out arrangements where they alternate years for claiming dependents.

After struggling with a similar situation last year, I found this incredible service called taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) that saved me from making a costly mistake with dependent claims. My GF and I were in nearly the same boat - I was supporting her through grad school but her parents were still covering some expenses. The tool analyzed my situation by breaking down exactly what qualified as "support" and calculated the percentage I was providing vs. her parents. It turns out housing in high-cost areas often tips the scales significantly. The site has a specific dependent calculator that lets you input all expenses from both parties to determine who legally should claim the dependent.

Hey everyone, just wanted to update after trying out taxr.ai that someone mentioned. I was skeptical but desperate since my brother moved in with me mid-year and I wasn't sure about claiming him. The site actually walked me through tallying up ALL support - including things I hadn't even considered like the fair rental value of the bedroom he uses in my apartment (huge in NYC!). It turns out I'm providing about 68% of his total support even though his parents still pay his student loans and car insurance. It generated this detailed support test document that clearly showed I passed the 50% threshold. Super helpful when I had to explain to my parents why I should be the one claiming him this year. Saved an awkward conversation!

After spending DAYS trying to get through to the IRS about a similar dependent situation last year (my adult daughter living with me while her dad still paid her tuition), I finally discovered https://claimyr.com which got me connected to an actual IRS agent in under 15 minutes. You can see how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c The agent was able to walk me through the "tie-breaker rules" for when two people might qualify to claim the same dependent. Turns out there's specific guidance for situations exactly like yours where two separate households are providing support. The service saved me hours of hold music and the agent gave me official documentation to back up my filing decision.

After spending DAYS trying to get through to the IRS about a similar dependent situation last year (my adult daughter living with me while her dad still paid her tuition), I finally discovered https://claimyr.com which got me connected to an actual IRS agent in under 15 minutes. You can see how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c The agent was able to walk me through the "tie-breaker rules" for when two people might qualify to claim the same dependent. Turns out there's specific guidance for situations exactly like yours where two separate households are providing support. The service

OK I need to apologize to everyone about my skeptical comment before. I actually tried Claimyr yesterday after raging about being on hold with the IRS for literally 2.5 hours before getting disconnected. Holy crap it actually works! Got connected to an agent in like 15 minutes. The agent confirmed that in my situation (supporting my sister who lives with me but our parents pay her tuition), I needed to calculate the TOTAL yearly value of all support. Since housing in my area (Seattle) is so expensive, I'm actually providing over 60% of her total support even though tuition seems like the bigger expense. They even emailed me documentation about the support test that I can show my parents. Seriously worth it just to avoid the awkward family drama at tax time.

One thing nobody's mentioned - there's a potential workaround here. If her parents agree not to claim her (maybe because you're providing more support), they can file Form 8332 which releases their claim. This is usually used for divorced parents but can work in other situations too. My brother and his girlfriend worked this out with her parents - they calculated everything and determined he provided 48% of support while her parents provided 52%. But since he needed the tax break more as a young professional with student loans, her parents agreed to sign the form and let him claim her.

Don't forget there are two types of dependents: qualifying child and qualifying relative. GF would fall under qualifying relative, which means: 1. They don't need to be related if they lived with you all year 2. Their gross income must be under $4,700 3. You must provide over half of total support 4. They can't be claimed as a qualifying child by someone else The support test is the big one. Calculate EVERYTHING: - Housing (fair rental value of space) - Food - Utilities - Medical/dental - Education - Clothing - Transportation Car insurance, health insurance and phone are definitely part of support calculation, so add those to her parents' side.

This is exactly the kind of situation where you really need to sit down and crunch the actual numbers with her parents. I went through something similar when my partner moved in with me during grad school. Here's what I learned: housing costs in expensive cities like Boston often make up the largest chunk of support. At $3,200/month rent, you're looking at $38,400 annually just for housing. Add food, utilities, and other living expenses, and you're probably providing $45,000+ in support. Meanwhile, her parents are covering car insurance (maybe $1,200/year?), cell phone ($600-1,200/year), and health insurance (this varies widely but could be $3,000-8,000/year depending on the plan). The key question is: what's her total annual support amount, and who provides more than half? Don't forget to include the fair rental value of her share of your apartment space, not just what you pay in rent. I'd recommend creating a spreadsheet with both sides of support and having an honest conversation with her family. In my case, it was clear I was providing about 75% of total support, so her parents agreed I should claim her. Most reasonable parents will understand the math once you lay it out clearly. Just make sure whoever claims her can actually benefit from the deduction - sometimes it makes more financial sense for the higher earner to claim the dependent even if it's close to 50/50 on support.