Can I Claim My 11-Month-Old Niece on Income Taxes?

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Can I Claim My 11-Month-Old Niece on Income Taxes? eHow.com

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Can I Claim My 11-Month-Old Niece on Income Taxes?


There are a number of benefits to being able to use a child as a
qualifying child for tax purposes. A qualifying child may entitle the
taxpayer to an additional exemption for a dependent, permit her to file
as head of household and allow her to claim a variety of credits. Listing
a child as a qualifying child requires a number of conditions to be met
first, however, before the taxpayer may receive the benefits.


1.

Dependent


* To register a child as a qualifying child, you must first meet
certain conditions to determine dependency. One of the conditions
for claiming a child as a dependent is the relationship test. Under
the relationship condition, a child may be your child or stepchild,
foster child, a sibling or stepsibling, or the descendant of a
sibling or stepsibling. In addition, she must be under the age of 19
and have lived with the taxpayer for more than half the year. The
child must also be a United States citizen or national, or a citizen
of Canada or Mexico. The child must not have paid more than half her
support herself for the year and, if married, cannot be filing a
joint return.





Filing Status


* A taxpayer's filing status can significantly affect the amount
of tax liability he has at the end of the year. If a taxpayer files
as the head of a household, he will generally gain an advantage with
regard to his tax liability. A taxpayer must have a qualifying child
in order to file as head of household. In order to use your
11-month-old niece as a qualifying child, she would need to meet all
of the same conditions as a dependent.





Child and Dependent Care Credit


* The child and dependent care credit allows taxpayers to claim a
credit for expenses incurred during the year to care for a child
while the taxpayer was working or looking for work. In addition to
the requirements for a dependent, a qualifying child for purposes of
the child and dependent care credit must also be under the age of 13
or permanently and totally disabled.





Child Tax Credit and Earned Income Credit


* Both the child tax credit and the earned income credit are
credits that a taxpayer may qualify for if she claims a qualifying
child. The child tax credit does not begin to phase out until a
single taxpayer's income reaches $75,000 (as of 2011) while the
earned income credit income limit for an individual taxpayer in 2011
was $35,535. In order to use your 11-month-old niece for either
credit, she must meet the dependent conditions. For the child tax
credit, she must also be a United States citizen, national or
resident and under the age of 17. For the earned income credit, she
must meet the dependency conditions with the exception of the
support condition.






References


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