Claiming someone else's child as a dependent on my income tax return

But what if the roommate provides most of the support? I thought there was some provision for non-relatives if you're financially supporting the child?

Good question. There is a provision for non-relatives, but you would still need to meet ALL of the other tests. The child would need to have lived with you for more than half the year, and you would need to have provided more than half of their total financial support. Even if you occasionally buy clothes and watch her when her dad works, it sounds like her father is still her primary caregiver and likely provides the majority of her support. The IRS would consider this an incorrect claim which could trigger an audit for both of you.

How exactly does that work? Can it tell you specifically if you qualify to claim someone else's kid? Did it give you actual tax code references?

Sounds fishy. Did you actually try it or are you just advertising? I'm skeptical of AI tools claiming to give tax advice when there are so many specific rules.

It analyzes your specific situation based on the tax documents you upload. It showed me exactly which dependency tests I failed and the specific IRS rules that applied. It cited the exact tax code references and explained how the residency and relationship tests work for claiming dependents. For your second question, I definitely used it. I was about to claim my girlfriend's kids thinking I could since I paid for a lot of their expenses, but the tool showed me I didn't qualify under the residency test. Saved me from a potential audit!

Wait, how does this actually work? The IRS wait times are insane - like 2+ hours when I tried calling. Is this some kind of priority line or something?

Yeah right. Nothing gets you through to the IRS faster. They're understaffed and overworked. This sounds like a scam to get people's money with false promises.

It uses a system that navigates the IRS phone tree and waits on hold for you, then calls you when an actual agent is on the line. It's basically hold-waiting technology so you don't have to sit there for hours listening to the hold music. And no, it's not a scam. I was super skeptical too, but I was desperate after trying to get through for weeks. It did exactly what it claimed - got me connected to an actual IRS agent who helped me understand how the dependent claiming rules applied to my specific situation.

Thank you for the suggestion! I definitely don't want to do anything illegal. Would these credits help even if he doesn't make much money? He works part time and gets some cash jobs on the side (probably doesn't report all of that income).

Yes, these credits can definitely help people with lower incomes! The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) is specifically designed for lower-income workers and is refundable, meaning he could get money back even if he owes no tax. Regarding the unreported cash income - that's a separate issue, but he should know that claiming tax credits while not reporting all income could create problems if he's audited. The safest path is to report all income and claim the credits he's legally entitled to.

No, if he doesn't claim his daughter as a dependent, he can't file as head of household. He'd have to file as single, which has worse tax rates and a lower standard deduction. That would probably hurt him more financially than whatever benefit OP might share from illegally claiming the kid.

Thanks for explaining that. Makes sense why he'd want someone else to claim his kid if he's not making enough to benefit from the credits, but sounds like he'd lose the head of household status which is pretty valuable.