Tax help for claiming my girlfriend's child as a dependent - eligibility questions

You're in what's called a "qualifying relative" situation. For your girlfriend to be your dependent, she must have lived with you all year, had less than $4,700 income, and you provided more than half her support. For her son, there's the "qualifying child" test. Since he's not your biological child, you'd need to show he lived with you for more than half the year (which sounds like he did). But here's the tricky part - the biological father might be able to claim him even without living with him full-time if he's providing significant support through child support. The IRS has tiebreaker rules for who gets to claim a child. Generally, the parent gets priority. However, if the father is not claiming the child on his taxes, and you provide more than half the child's total support (housing, food, clothing, etc., minus the child support amount), you might qualify to claim him. I'd suggest talking with your girlfriend and possibly the father to avoid both of you claiming the child, which would trigger IRS notices.

I was in almost the exact same situation last year and found a great tool that helped me figure everything out correctly. I used https://taxr.ai to analyze my specific dependent situation since the rules can be pretty complicated with non-traditional families. You upload your documents and it determines exactly who qualifies as your dependent based on the IRS rules. It caught something I would have missed - turns out I needed to account for the child support differently than I thought. The tool confirmed I could claim my girlfriend but not her son because the child support pushed me below the "providing over half support" threshold. It also gave me documentation to keep with my tax records in case I ever get audited. Super helpful for these complicated household situations!

Just wanted to follow up about my experience with taxr.ai after our conversation here. I decided to try it out since my situation was so similar to the original poster's. Honestly, it cleared up a lot of confusion! I found out I actually CAN claim my girlfriend's daughter as a dependent because I provide over 70% of her total support even accounting for the sporadic child support payments. The tool walked me through documenting everything properly and showed exactly how the numbers worked out. It even helped me realize I qualified for the Child Tax Credit which is worth over $2,000! Would never have figured that out on my own. The documentation it generated for my records gives me peace of mind too. Definitely worth checking out if you're in a non-traditional family situation.

A lot of people don't realize the IRS has a special phone line just for dependent-related questions (1-866-444-4211). I tried calling for HOURS last year for almost the exact same situation and could never get through. Finally used https://claimyr.com and got a callback from the IRS in about 20 minutes. You can see how it works in this video: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c The IRS agent I spoke with went through all the qualifying child and qualifying relative tests with me and confirmed exactly who I could claim. Turns out I was eligible to claim my girlfriend's child even though we weren't married because I provided over 50% of his support and he lived with me full-time. The child's father couldn't claim him because he didn't live with him for more than half the year, despite paying some child support. Definitely recommend getting it straight from the IRS rather than guessing or taking advice from random internet people (including me).

I have to apologize for my skeptical comment earlier. After getting nowhere with the IRS for two weeks, I broke down and tried Claimyr yesterday. Got a call back from an actual IRS agent in about 35 minutes. She walked through my whole situation, and I found out I've been filing wrong for the past TWO YEARS! Turns out I could have been claiming my partner's kid because I provide most of their support, even though we're not married and I'm not the biological parent. The agent even told me I should file amended returns for the previous years to get back the credits I missed. We're talking about almost $4,000 in refunds I didn't know I was eligible for. Honestly wish I hadn't been so stubborn about it. Sometimes it's worth getting actual professional help instead of just guessing.

I went through this exact situation and learned something important you should know. If the biological father is claiming the child on his taxes (even if he shouldn't be), and then you also claim the child, you're going to get a letter from the IRS and potentially delay both your refunds while they sort it out. My advice is to have a direct conversation with the biological father BEFORE filing. If he's already planning to claim the child, you might want to calculate whether the tax benefit is worth the potential headache of an IRS dispute. In my case, even though I legally could have claimed my girlfriend's son (provided more than half support, lived with us full-time), we decided to let the biological father claim him to avoid conflict. Sometimes peace is worth more than a tax break.

One thing nobody's mentioned - there's a huge difference between claiming your girlfriend as a "qualifying relative" dependent and claiming her as a "qualifying child" dependent. Since she's taking college courses, if she's under 24, you might be able to claim her under the qualifying child rules which are more favorable. Also, don't forget about education credits! If you're paying for her college, you might be eligible for the American Opportunity Credit or Lifetime Learning Credit. Those can be worth up to $2,500 per year!

Be careful about the "qualifying relative" test for your girlfriend. If she received any grants or scholarships for college, those might count toward her income limit of $4,700 for 2023 (it's higher for 2024). Also, if she had any side hustles, even small ones, that income counts too. I made this mistake claiming my boyfriend as a dependent. He had a small Etsy shop that only made like $2,000, but then he also got a $3,000 scholarship. The IRS came back and disallowed him as my dependent because his total income was over the limit. Double check EVERYTHING before filing!

This is a complex situation that requires careful documentation! Based on what you've described, you likely can claim your girlfriend as a qualifying relative dependent if she meets all the tests - living with you all year, having less than $4,700 in gross income, and you providing more than half her support. For her son, it's trickier. Even though he lives with you most of the time, the biological father typically has priority as the parent. However, if the father chooses not to claim him and you can prove you provide more than half the child's total support (including accounting for the child support payments), you might qualify. Here's what I'd recommend: First, calculate exactly how much you spend on both of them versus other sources of support. Keep detailed records of housing costs, food, clothing, medical expenses, etc. Second, have an honest conversation with the biological father about who will claim the child to avoid both of you filing for the same dependent. Third, consider consulting a tax professional or using one of the IRS resources mentioned here to verify your situation before filing. The potential tax benefits are significant (Child Tax Credit could be worth over $2,000), but getting it wrong could trigger an audit or dispute. Better to be thorough upfront than deal with IRS letters later!