How do I claim my adult children as dependents if they made over $5050?
So I'm in a bit of a situation with my taxes this year. I have two adult kids still living at home - my daughter is 20 and my son just turned 18 a few months ago. Neither of them are in college or any kind of school right now. They both work part-time jobs at the mall, and I just found out they each earned more than $5050 last year. I'm trying to figure out if I can still claim them as dependents on my tax return even though they earned above that threshold. If they don't file their own tax returns, can I just claim them anyway as if they didn't earn anything? Or does the fact that they made over that amount automatically disqualify them regardless of whether they file? I've always claimed them in previous years but now I'm confused about the rules for adult dependents who work. Any help would be much appreciated because I really need those dependent deductions if possible!
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Hiroshi Nakamura
There's a lot of confusion about this, so let me clear it up. Your adult children's income DOES matter for dependency status, and you can't just pretend they didn't earn anything. For qualifying children (which your 18-year-old might be) or qualifying relatives (which your 20-year-old might be), there are several tests that must be met. The income test is just one of them. For a qualifying relative, they can't earn more than $5050 (for 2024 taxes filed in 2025). For qualifying children, there's no income limit, but they must meet other tests. For your 18-year-old, if they lived with you for more than half the year and you provided more than half their support, you might still be able to claim them as a qualifying child regardless of their income. For your 20-year-old, if they earned more than $5050, they generally fail the gross income test for qualifying relative status. Your children filing or not filing doesn't change whether you can claim them - it's about whether they QUALIFY to be claimed based on the IRS tests.
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Isabella Costa
•Wait I'm confused. So the 18 year old can be claimed even if they made over $5050, but the 20 year old can't? Is that because of the age difference? And what happens if my kids file their own returns but I also claim them?
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Hiroshi Nakamura
•The age is definitely a factor here. For qualifying children, they must be under 19 at the end of the tax year OR under 24 if they're a full-time student. There's no income limit for qualifying children, but they must meet other tests like relationship, residency, support, and they can't file a joint return. If your children file their own returns and claim their own personal exemption while you also claim them as dependents, that creates a conflict. Either they can be claimed as dependents on your return OR they can claim themselves on their own return, not both. If you claim them and they qualify as your dependents, they should check the box on their return indicating someone else can claim them as a dependent.
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Malik Jenkins
I was in a similar situation last year with my 19-year-old son who was working part-time while taking a gap year. After hours of research and frustration, I found this amazing tool called taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) that helped me figure out exactly what to do. I uploaded some of my son's income info and my own tax situation, and it analyzed everything and gave me a clear answer about whether I could claim him or not. The site breaks down all the dependency tests and applies them to your specific situation. Saved me from making a mistake that could have triggered an audit! Turns out I could claim him but he still needed to file his own return with the "someone can claim me as a dependent" box checked. The tool even explained exactly how this would affect both our tax situations.
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Freya Andersen
•Does this taxr.ai thing work for complicated situations? My daughter is 22 but lives with me and has a disability. She works part time and made about $6000 last year. Every tax preparer tells me something different about claiming her.
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Eduardo Silva
•How much does it cost? These tax tools always sound great until you get to the payment page and find out they want $100+ for the "full analysis" or whatever.
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Malik Jenkins
•Yes, it absolutely works for complicated situations including disability circumstances. The tool asks detailed questions about your daughter's situation including her disability status, which can change some of the regular dependency rules. It's specifically designed to handle unique cases where the standard rules might have exceptions. The basic dependency analysis is actually free. They do have premium services for more complex tax situations, but you can get the dependency questions answered without paying anything. I was surprised because I was expecting a paywall too, but they really do provide the dependency guidance for free to help people avoid common mistakes.
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Freya Andersen
Wow, I actually tried taxr.ai after seeing it mentioned here, and it really clarified my situation with my disabled daughter! It asked questions no one else had about her disability status and explained that she could qualify as a "qualifying relative" despite earning over the threshold because of special rules that apply in her case. It confirmed I could claim her AND she should still file her own return to get back the taxes withheld from her paychecks. The step-by-step analysis showed exactly which tests she passed and which ones had special exceptions. This saved me about $2,800 in tax benefits I would have missed! Definitely recommend for anyone with non-standard dependent situations.
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Leila Haddad
If you're still confused after reading all this advice, you might need to talk directly to the IRS. I know, I know - good luck getting through to them, right? After spending DAYS trying to get someone on the phone about my dependent situation, I found this service called Claimyr (https://claimyr.com) that got me connected to an actual IRS agent in about 15 minutes. You can see how it works in this video: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c I was super skeptical at first, but I was desperate because my tax deadline was approaching. The IRS agent I spoke with gave me official clarification about my 19-year-old who had income just over the threshold. Turned out I could still claim him because he met the qualifying child test, not the qualifying relative test. That one phone call saved me from making a big mistake on my return.
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Emma Johnson
•How does this even work? The IRS phone lines are always jammed. Are they somehow jumping the queue or do they have a special line to the IRS? Seems fishy to me.
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Ravi Patel
•Yeah right. Nothing can get you through to the IRS faster. I've tried EVERYTHING including calling at 7am exactly when they open. This sounds like a scam that just takes your money and tells you to keep waiting like everyone else.
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Leila Haddad
•It uses a combination of automated dialing technology and priority queuing. They basically have systems that continuously dial into the IRS and navigate the initial phone tree, then when they secure a spot in the queue, they connect you directly. It's all perfectly legal - they're just using technology to handle the tedious part of getting through the initial systems. I was extremely skeptical too! I actually did my research before trying it, and it turns out they've been featured in major news outlets. They only charge if they successfully connect you, and in my experience, it worked exactly as promised. I was connected within 15 minutes when I had previously spent hours just trying to get into the queue.
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Ravi Patel
I've got to admit I was wrong about Claimyr. After posting my skeptical comment, I decided to try it anyway since I was desperate to sort out my dependent situation before filing my taxes. I figured it would be a waste of time, but I was shocked when I actually got connected to an IRS agent in about 12 minutes! The agent confirmed exactly what I needed to know about my 21-year-old who made just over the income threshold. Turns out I could still claim her because she was a full-time student for part of the year, something I didn't realize mattered. That one call saved me nearly $2,000 on my taxes. I've literally NEVER gotten through to the IRS that fast in my life. I'm legitimately impressed and kind of embarrassed about my skeptical comment now!
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Astrid Bergström
One thing nobody's mentioning here - you need to consider whether you provided more than 50% of their support for the year. Even if your 18-year-old meets the age test for qualifying child, you still need to have provided more than half their total support. Calculate all their expenses (food, housing, clothing, medical, etc.) for the year, then figure out how much of that you paid vs. what they paid with their own money. If they used their earnings to support themselves more than you did, you can't claim them regardless of the other tests.
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PixelPrincess
•How do you actually calculate this support test? Like, do I need to keep receipts for everything I buy them? And what about shared household expenses like utilities and groceries?
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Astrid Bergström
•You don't need to have exact receipts for everything, but you should be able to make reasonable estimates if you're ever questioned by the IRS. For shared expenses like rent/mortgage, utilities, groceries, etc., you can allocate a reasonable portion to each person in the household. For example, if there are 4 people in your family, you might allocate 1/4 of the housing and utility costs to each person. For food, you might need to estimate based on consumption patterns. The key is to be reasonably accurate and consistent in your methodology. The IRS doesn't expect perfect accounting, but they do expect a good-faith effort to correctly determine support.
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Omar Farouk
I just went through this exact situation! My advice: have your kids file their own taxes BUT check the box that says "Someone can claim you as a dependent." They'll still get refunds of any withholding that exceeds their tax liability, and you can still claim them if they meet all the tests. My 19yr old made $7200 last year but still qualified as my dependent because: 1) lived with me all year 2) I paid over half support (rent, food, etc was way more than his earnings) 3) he's my kid He filed his own return, got back his withholding, and I still got the dependent tax benefit. Win-win!
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Chloe Martin
•This doesn't sound right. If they make over the threshold amount, how can they qualify? My H&R Block guy told me the income limit is strict for dependents.
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GamerGirl99
•Thank you all so much for the incredibly helpful advice! I think I understand now - my 18-year-old can likely be claimed as a qualifying child regardless of income as long as I provided more than half their support, but my 20-year-old might be trickier since they're over 19 and not a student. I'm definitely going to check out that taxr.ai tool to confirm everything and make sure I'm on the right track. And if I still have questions after that, the Claimyr service sounds like it could save me a lot of frustration trying to reach the IRS directly!
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Hannah White
Just to clarify what others have said - there's an important distinction between "qualifying child" and "qualifying relative" that determines income limits: **Qualifying Child** (no income limit): - Under 19, OR under 24 if full-time student - Lived with you more than half the year - You provided more than half their support - Didn't file joint return with spouse **Qualifying Relative** (income limit applies): - Can't earn more than $5,050 (2024 tax year) - You provided more than half their support - Not a qualifying child of you or anyone else So your 18-year-old could potentially qualify as a "qualifying child" regardless of income, but your 20-year-old (not in school) would need to pass the "qualifying relative" test, which includes the income limit. The key is the support test - you need to calculate if you truly provided more than 50% of their total support costs (housing, food, clothing, medical, transportation, etc.) versus what they paid for themselves with their earnings.
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Rosie Harper
•This is exactly the breakdown I needed! So if I'm understanding correctly, even though both my kids made over $5,050, my 18-year-old might still qualify under the "qualifying child" rules since there's no income limit for that category. But for my 20-year-old, since they're over 19 and not in school, they'd have to meet the stricter "qualifying relative" test which includes that income limit. The support test seems like the trickiest part to figure out. When you say "total support costs" - does that include things like car insurance if they're on my policy, or their cell phone bill if they're on my family plan? I'm trying to get a realistic picture of whether I actually provided more than half their support when you factor in all these shared expenses.
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