For BRAD

[RLymanC]

I'm still confused with regards to a child that receives Social Security Benifits in the amount of $550.00 month from the fathers death benifits, or for anyother reason for that matter.

In calculating support is this amount concidered provided by the child or can the taxpayer use all of this amount for support and concider it not provided by the child and claim the child as a dependent.

Figure the $500.00 per month would be over 50% of the childs support for the purpose of this question.

[jainen]

There is a worksheet

There is a worksheet in Pub 17 to help you determine support. Social Security benefits are considered to be the child's income, so if it is used for support it is provided by the child. SSI, on the other hand, is welfare provided by a third party even though the Social Security Administration handles it.

[RLymanC]

Ssi

There is a worksheet in Pub 17 to help you determine support. Social Security benefits are considered to be the child's income, so if it is used for support it is provided by the child. SSI, on the other hand, is welfare provided by a third party even though the Social Security Administration handles it.

Thanks for clearing that up, not sure why I was unsure about the death benifits recieved by the child.

Look on page 3-19 of TTB fist column under "support provided by others", the last bullet includes "Social Security benefits." Am I reading this wrong???? :>(

[Koss]

Thanks for clearing that up, not sure why I was unsure about the death benifits recieved by the child.

Look on page 3-19 of TTB fist column under "support provided by others", the last bullet includes "Social Security benefits." Am I reading this wrong???? :>(

Well... I don't have a copy of the TTB in front of me right now, but I'll make a couple observations. Either it's written poorly, or you're taking it out of context somehow.

For qualifying child, the substantive question is whether the child provided more than half of his or her own support. I generally agree with Jainen that social security benefits are treated as funds belonging to the child that the child may then use to support himself. This is true even if the child is way too young to make such decisions. An adult manages the funds for him. If the social security benefits are salted away into a custodial bank account, and are not spent, then the child is not using these funds to support himself. If the funds are spent on current living expenses of the child, then this is money that the child is contributing to his own support. The underlying question remains whether the child provided more than half of his own support. If he did, then he is not anyone's qualifying child.

But for qualifying relative, the question is not whether the child provided more than half of his own support, but rather whether the taxpayer provided more than half of the child's support.

The sentence you quoted from TTB could be read in the context of the support test for qualifying relative, and it sort of makes sense. If the goal is to determine whether the taxpayer provided more than half the support of the putative dependent, then social security benefits are indeed "support provided by others," because in this context the term others refers to anyone other than the taxpayer.

I realize that this is a bit tortured, and I'm kinda shooting my mouth off here without being able to read the quote in its original context. The original context is what this is all about.

You can't be an "other" unless you have a clear reference to who you are setting yourself apart from. If you are asking whether the child is supporting himself, then "support provided by others" would appear to mean "support provided by someone other than the child in question." But if you are asking whether the taxpayer is supporting the child, then "support provided by others" would appear to mean "support provided by someone other than the taxpayer in question."

Burton M. Koss
koss@usakoss.net

[Brad Imsdahl]

Social Security benefits mentioned on page TTB, page 3-19, is listed under support provided by others. That list is in contrast to support provided by the taxpayer. Since the discussion is under the heading “Other Dependency Rules,” the context of the statement is in considering whether you as a taxpayer can claim another person as a dependent. It’s not talking about Social Security benefits you received as a taxpayer. It is talking about money received by the person you are trying to claim as a dependent. So if someone is receiving Social Security benefits, that is not considered support provided by you.


Wages are listed in the same sentence as Social Security benefits. Wages earned by your dependent is considered support not provided by you the taxpayer.

[Brad Imsdahl]

To further clarify, the sentence ends….”used to pay for items of support.” In other words, the Social Security benefits that the child receives only counts as support provided by someone other than the taxpayer if the benefits are actually used to support the child.