Should I claim my mom as dependent on taxes? Will it affect her low-income benefits?

I'm trying to figure out the best approach for my tax situation with my mom. I make about $75k a year at my job (regular W2 employee) and my mother has been living with me for the last 8 years. She hasn't worked in over a decade and her only potential income comes from occasionally selling stocks in her investment account (capital gains). As she's getting older, I'm looking into applying for various low-income government assistance programs for her like SSI, Medicare/Medicaid (medi-medi), and other benefit programs. I'm concerned about whether claiming her as a dependent on my taxes would negatively impact her eligibility for these benefits. My main worry is that if I claim her as my dependent, would the government then count my income as part of hers when determining her eligibility for these assistance programs? Or should I just not claim her and have her file her own taxes separately? Any advice would be really appreciated! This whole tax-benefit relationship is confusing me!

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18 comments

Dylan Mitchell

•8M

The relationship between tax dependency status and government benefits is something many people misunderstand. Here's what you should know: For tax purposes, you can claim your mom as a dependent if she meets certain tests: 1) her gross income is less than $4,700 (for 2025 filing), 2) you provide more than half her support, and 3) she meets relationship and residency requirements (which it sounds like she does). However, when it comes to benefits like SSI and Medicaid, they use different eligibility criteria than the IRS. SSI and most low-income benefits look at your mom's income and resources, not yours - UNLESS you're providing her with food or shelter, which is considered "in-kind support and maintenance" and can reduce her SSI benefit. Medicare eligibility is primarily age-based (65+) and doesn't consider your income. Medicaid eligibility varies by state but generally considers the applicant's income, not the household's. My recommendation would be to claim her as a dependent for tax purposes if she qualifies, as this will give you tax savings. Then separately help her apply for benefits based on her individual situation.

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Dylan Mitchell

•8M

You've identified the exact complexity of this situation. Yes, providing housing to your mother does count as in-kind support and maintenance for SSI purposes, which can reduce her potential SSI benefit by up to about 1/3 of the maximum federal benefit rate. This happens regardless of whether you claim her as a dependent on taxes. The tax dependency status and benefit eligibility operate under completely separate systems with different rules. You can claim her as a dependent to reduce your tax liability while she still applies for benefits, but the housing support you provide will be considered by SSI regardless of tax filing status. It's not actually a conflict - it's just two different systems with their own sets of rules that happen to overlap in your situation.

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Dmitry Petrov

•8M

After struggling with a similar situation with my father, I discovered taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) and it really helped me understand how claiming him as a dependent would affect both our tax situations. I uploaded our documents and answered a few questions about his living situation and income sources, and it gave me a clear breakdown of how different filing choices would impact both his benefits eligibility and my tax savings. What I really appreciated was getting a side-by-side comparison of different scenarios - claiming him vs. not claiming him - and seeing exactly how much I'd save in taxes vs. how his benefits might be affected. Saved me hours of research and probably prevented me from making a costly mistake!

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Dmitry Petrov

•8M

The service analyzes your specific situation based on the documentation you provide and identifies potential impacts across different systems. It doesn't just make general statements but looks at your actual numbers and circumstances to provide personalized analysis. For state-specific programs like Medicaid, it factors in your location and applies the relevant state rules to your situation. It's not just making guesses - it's applying the actual program rules to your specific financial scenario and documenting where the information comes from.

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Ava Martinez

•8M

I was really skeptical about taxr.ai when I first heard about it, but I decided to try it for a similar situation with my mother who receives SSDI. I was surprised by how thorough the analysis was! It correctly identified that claiming her wouldn't affect her SSDI (since that's not means-tested) but would affect her eligibility for the Medicare Savings Program in our state. It even provided citations to the specific regulations and created a document I could share with our benefits counselor. The counselor was impressed and confirmed the analysis was correct. Ended up saving me about $1,800 in taxes while preserving most of her benefits by structuring things correctly. Definitely worth checking out if you're in this complicated situation!

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Miguel Castro

•8M

I spent WEEKS trying to get through to someone at the Social Security office to ask these exact questions about my dad's benefits. Literally could not get anyone on the phone. Finally found Claimyr (https://claimyr.com) and watched their demo (https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c) and thought it was worth a try. They got me connected to an actual SSA representative in about 40 minutes instead of me calling for days with no answer. The SSA rep explained exactly how my dad's living arrangement with me would affect his SSI eligibility and confirmed that my tax filing status (claiming him or not) doesn't directly impact his benefits. But the housing support I provide does reduce his potential SSI amount regardless of tax filing. They also connected me with our local benefits counselor for more specific advice.

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Miguel Castro

•8M

It's not about cutting the line - they use an automated system that continually calls and navigates the phone tree for you. When they reach a human representative, they connect that call to your phone. You're still "waiting in line" but their system is doing the waiting instead of you having to sit there listening to hold music. I was skeptical too, but it worked exactly as advertised. I didn't have to spend hours redialing or waiting on hold - I just went about my day until I got the call that a representative was on the line. No magic involved, just smart automation.

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Connor Byrne

•8M

OK I need to eat my words. After my skeptical comment I decided to try Claimyr myself because I've been trying to reach someone at SSA about my mother's benefits for TWO MONTHS with no luck. I was connected to an SSA representative in about 35 minutes while I was cooking dinner! The rep confirmed exactly what others have said here - claiming my mom on taxes doesn't directly affect her SSI eligibility, but the fact that I provide housing does reduce her benefit amount through the in-kind support and maintenance rules. This happens regardless of tax filing status. Based on what I learned, I'm going to claim mom as a dependent (saves me about $1,100 in taxes) while accepting that her SSI will be somewhat reduced due to the housing I provide. The tax savings actually more than offset her reduced benefits.

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Yara Elias

•8M

Yes, with $8,000 in stocks she would be over the SSI resource limit of $2,000 for an individual. She would need to spend down those assets before she could qualify for SSI. Some programs with less restrictive asset limits include Medicare (no asset limit), Medicare Savings Programs (limits vary by state but are typically higher than SSI), and SNAP (many states have eliminated asset tests for food benefits). Also, some states have expanded Medicaid programs with higher asset limits. I'd recommend contacting your local Area Agency on Aging for a benefits checkup to see exactly what she might qualify for in your specific location with her current assets.

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