Claim Exemption? Daughter has no wages.

[taxea]

Oh, lets confuse you all even more....a disabled child of any age can have income as long as the income is as stated in the instructions.
SSI/disabled employer type income do not go towards support.

[Koss]

Support Test

A parent has to provide over 50% of the annual support for a dependent in order to get the dependent exemption.

That is the support test for a qualifying relative. The support test for a qualifying child is very different.

For a qualifying child, a parent is not required to provide any support at all. The rule says that the child cannot provide more than half of his own support. It does not matter where the support is coming from, as long as it is not coming from the child himself.

There are two types of dependents: qualifying child and qualifying relative. The support test for a qualifying child is not the same as the support test for a qualifying relative. This is why page 3-15 of The Tax Book has two columns. Also, see the chart on page 27 of IRS Publication 17.

For a qualifying child for EIC, there is no support test at all. For EIC, the tests are age, relationship, residency and joint return.

BMK

[Black Bart]

Actually mom,

you need to go back and read this thread again, all of it and especially comments by Koss and Bart.

it's not just our colleagues here -- the "must provide over one-half support" belief is still widely-held among preparers, especially long-time practitioners. And why not? It was holy tax writ and scripture for decades -- as basic as breathing air. When a smart guy first tried to explain it to an old-timer like me, I almost pitied him and felt it so wrong-headed and preposterous that I could scarcely even consider it.

But what a revelation it was; and I like it -- just the fact that dependent kids don't necessarily have to live with a taxpayer any more makes it invaluable for that if nothing else.

Anyway, we'll all get it right sooner or later -- EXCEPT that those tax-writin' guys Bees mentioned may never get their 'qualifed uniforms" right. Nowadays if some survivor of today's fractured family structures asks "Can I claim...(whoever)"?, my internal computer begins phasing into an endless loop and I'm frequently saying "I'll check on it and let you know later."