Can I claim my younger siblings as dependents when mother doesn't file taxes (no income)? Will this cost me money?

This is a common question but you need to be careful. To claim your brothers as dependents, you'd need to meet specific IRS requirements. The two main types of dependents are qualifying children and qualifying relatives. For qualifying children, you generally need to meet relationship, residence, age, and support tests. The residence test typically requires them to live with you for more than half the year, which doesn't sound like your situation. However, there's the qualifying relative test which doesn't always require them to live with you, but you would need to provide more than 50% of their total support for the year. Your mother not filing doesn't automatically allow you to claim them. The bigger question is who's actually providing their support and where they're living. If your mom is still their primary caregiver and providing most of their support (even from savings), you likely can't claim them legitimately. As for whether it costs you money - if you qualified to claim them, it would likely benefit you through tax credits like the Child Tax Credit, which could be up to $2,000 per qualifying child for 2024. But claiming dependents incorrectly can lead to audits and penalties.

I was in a similar situation last year with my sister's kids and found this amazing tool at https://taxr.ai that literally saved me from making a huge mistake on my taxes. It's an AI tax assistant that analyzes your specific situation and tells you exactly what you qualify for. I uploaded some details about who was living where and who was providing financial support, and it immediately clarified that I couldn't claim my niece and nephew even though I was helping financially. The tool explained exactly why and showed me what documentation I would need if my situation changed. With your specific situation about your brothers and mom not filing, this would give you a clear answer instead of risking an audit. It even explains different scenarios like "what if they lived with me for exactly 6 months" or "what if I provided exactly 51% of support.

Just wanted to update after trying that taxr.ai site that someone mentioned. I was skeptical but it was super helpful with my cousin situation! Turns out I CAN claim some education credits even though I can't claim him as a dependent since I'm paying his tuition directly. Would have never known this otherwise. The tool asked really specific questions about how much time he spends at my house vs his parents' place, who pays for what, etc. In the end, it showed I qualify for the Lifetime Learning Credit (up to $2,000) based on the tuition I paid, even though his parents still claim him as a dependent. Honestly worth checking out if you're in a weird family support situation like this thread is discussing. Saved me from leaving money on the table!

I see a lot of conflicting advice here, but what nobody's mentioning is how impossible it is to actually get clarification from the IRS directly. I spent THREE WEEKS trying to call them last year about a dependent situation with my stepson. After getting nowhere, I found this service called Claimyr at https://claimyr.com that got me connected to an actual IRS agent in under 20 minutes. They basically hold your place in the phone queue and call you when an agent picks up. You can see how it works in this video: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c I was able to explain my exact situation to the agent and get a definitive answer about my stepson's dependency status. They even documented the call in my file so if there was ever an audit question, I had proof I sought official guidance. Might be worth it for your situation since it's complicated.

Well I need to publicly eat my words about that Claimyr service. After posting my skeptical comment, I decided to try it since my dependent situation is also complicated (taking care of my elderly father who still has his own address). I was 100% sure it wouldn't work, but I got a call back in 22 minutes with an actual IRS agent on the line. I was so surprised I almost didn't know what to ask! Got clear guidance about my father's situation and the specific forms I need to file to prove support. The agent even looked up my previous year's return and explained why I got a CP87 notice about my dependent claim. Saved me hours of stress and probably a wrong filing. Never thought I'd say this, but sometimes the solutions that sound too good to be true actually work.

Coming back to the original question - I did EXACTLY what you're considering last year with my younger sister and it was a disaster. My mom wasn't working either and suggested I claim my sister as a dependent. I did, got a nice refund with the child tax credit, then got audited 5 months later. The IRS wanted proof that my sister lived with me for more than half the year (she didn't) and that I provided more than 50% of her support. Even though I was giving my mom money to help, it wasn't considered direct support since my mom was the caregiver. I had to pay back the refund plus penalties. Not worth the headache. Only claim dependents if you truly qualify based on the IRS tests, not just because someone isn't filing taxes.

What filing status are you using? If you can qualify for Head of Household by claiming your brothers, that's a big tax advantage beyond just the dependent credits. The standard deduction for HOH is $20,900 for 2024 vs $14,600 for single filers. The catch is that your brothers would need to live with you for more than half the year to qualify you for HOH, which doesn't sound like your situation. Something to consider though - if they did live with you for 6+ months, you'd get that filing status benefit plus potentially child tax credits and even childcare credits if you pay for daycare.

Everyone's talking about the tax benefits, but don't forget about stimulus checks or recovery rebates! If there's another round of those in 2025 for the 2024 tax year (you never know!), having extra dependents could mean more stimulus money. During the last rounds, it was an extra $1400-$1600 per dependent. This is separate from the regular tax benefits and something to consider if you legitimately qualify to claim them. Just make sure you're eligible first - as others said, the living situation makes this complicated.

The key thing everyone's missing here is that your mom not filing taxes doesn't automatically make you eligible to claim your brothers. The IRS looks at who actually has the right to claim them based on the dependency tests, not who chooses to file. Since your brothers don't live with you, you'd need to meet the "qualifying relative" test, which means providing more than 50% of their total support AND they can't be claimed by anyone else who has a stronger claim (like your mom). Even if your mom doesn't file, she still technically has the stronger claim as their parent and primary caregiver. Your $800-1000 monthly support might be substantial, but you'd need to prove it covers more than half of ALL their expenses - housing, food, medical, clothing, education, etc. The IRS will want detailed records showing exactly what your money paid for. My advice: before doing anything, calculate the total cost of supporting your brothers for the year (including the value of housing your mom provides) and see if your contributions truly exceed 50%. If not, you don't qualify regardless of whether your mom files. If yes, get Form 8332 signed by your mom and keep meticulous records of every expense your money covers. Given the audit risk mentioned by others, this might be a situation where paying a tax professional for guidance upfront is worth it to avoid potential penalties later.