Dependent

[RLymanC]

A "qualifying child" CANNOT be a "qualifying relative" of anyone else. Is this a true statement? It's from another board.

Example:
Non working mother and 9 year old son live the entire year with boy friend. Boy friend supports both.

Under the above statement boy friend could only claim mother as dependent because son is qualifying child of mother. Is that correct, or can he claim both as dependents.

[ED SMITH]

Boyfriend can claim mother as dependent but not the child. Neither one qualifies him as HOH beacause they are not related to him.

The new rules are going to create havoc with a lot of people used to claiming certain dependents and EIC. A foster child, unless placed by an agency, is no longer a qualifying child for dependency, HOH, CTC, EIC or child care credit.

There are going to be a lot of unhappy campers this year when they find out they are not going to get much smaller refunds than last year.

Ed

[Mark Goldberg]

Disagree about H of H

The man is H of H under the new rules. Although the children do not qualify him for H of H the woman qualifies him (this assumes she meets the five tests for dependency). The new rules state you are H of H if you have a qualifying child or an individual for whom you can claim a dependency exemption.
I thought the man weould get the kid as a dependent under the rules for qualifying relative but maybe Ed is correct that since the kid is a qulaifying child of the woman he can't be claimed by the man.

[RLymanC]

Hoh

Mark,
I don't believe you should file my scenario as HOH. I quote from Pub 501.

A person who is your qualifying relative only because he or she lived with you all year as a member of your household is not a qualifying person. That's always been the case, the person has had to be related to you in some way.

It appears under my original post that
1, Filing status is single....nothin new here
2. Claims girl friend as a dependent.....nothing new here
3, Cannot claims girlfriends daughter because the daughter is the mothers qualifying child.

Boogles my mind that the child cannot be claimed as a dependent soley for the reason that the mother is also a member of the household.

[Unregistered]

In Florida, the old boy friend, girl friend, girl friend's child, end's up being single because he/she violates local law. Going to be some "unhappy campers" who had HOH/dependent under 2004 rules, go to single with no deductions.

[Mark Goldberg]

NCPE says yes to H of H

The info I passed along re H of H is straight from NCPE text. The2005 rules are different from 2004.

[jainen]

additional requirement

The NCPE text is wrong. The Working Families Tax Relief Act puts an additional requirement that a HoH qualifying individual must be a dependent. It does not rescind the relationship requirement. It mostly concerns the definition of qualifying child and has little to say about anyone else.