Can You Claim an Adult Child as a Dependent?

Claiming an adult child as a dependent on your tax return requires meeting specific Internal Revenue Service (IRS) rules. The process involves a detailed look at your child’s age, residency, and financial situation. There are two potential pathways for claiming an adult child: as a “Qualifying Child” or as a “Qualifying Relative,” each with its own set of tests.

Meeting the Qualifying Child Requirements

To claim an adult child as a dependent under the “Qualifying Child” rules, five tests must be met. These cover the child’s relationship to you, age, residency, support, and joint return status.

Relationship

The individual must have a specific relationship to you. An adopted child, or one lawfully placed with you for adoption, is always treated as your own. The relationship test is met if the person is your:

• Son, daughter, stepchild, or an eligible foster child
• Brother, sister, half-sibling, or step-sibling
• Descendant of any of these individuals, such as a grandchild or nephew

Age

A child must be under age 19 at the end of the tax year. Two exceptions exist for adult children. If your child is a full-time student, the age limit extends to under 24. A full-time student is enrolled for the number of hours or courses the school considers full-time. If your child is permanently and totally disabled at any time during the year, there is no age limit.

Residency

The child must have lived with you for more than half of the year. Temporary absences for reasons like college, hospitalization, or vacation are considered time lived at home. If a child was born or died during the year, they meet this test if your home was their home for the entire time they were alive.

Support

For the support test, the child cannot have provided more than half of their own financial support during the tax year. This means you do not have to prove you provided over half of their support. You only need to show that the child did not provide more than half for themselves.

Joint Return

You cannot claim a dependent who is married and files a joint tax return with their spouse. An exception exists if the couple files a joint return only to claim a refund of income tax withheld or estimated taxes paid. In that scenario, you may still claim them.

Meeting the Qualifying Relative Requirements

If an adult child does not meet the tests to be a qualifying child, you may still claim them as a “Qualifying Relative.” This path requires meeting a different set of four tests. This is common for parents supporting children who are 24 or older and not permanently disabled.

Not a Qualifying Child

The person cannot be your qualifying child or the qualifying child of any other taxpayer. If an individual meets the tests to be a qualifying child for someone else, you cannot claim them as a qualifying relative. This is true even if the other person does not claim them as a dependent.

Gross Income

The individual’s gross income for the tax year must be less than an amount set by the IRS, which is $5,200 for 2025. Gross income includes all income that is not tax-exempt, such as wages, unemployment compensation, and taxable Social Security benefits. This includes money, goods, and services.

Support

You must provide more than half of the person’s total support for the year. This requires calculating all support expenses you paid compared to the total support the person received from all sources, including their own funds. If multiple people contribute to the support, you may be able to use Form 2120, Multiple Support Declaration.

Relationship or Member of Household

The person must either live with you all year as a member of your household or be related to you. A person who lives with you all year does not need to be a relative, but the relationship cannot violate local law. For this test, specified relatives include:

• Children and grandchildren
• Parents and grandparents
• Siblings
• In-laws

Calculating Financial Support

To apply the support tests, you must calculate the total support provided for the individual. Support includes costs for food, lodging, clothing, education, medical care, recreation, and transportation.

The value of lodging is a key part of this calculation and is based on its fair rental value. This is the amount you could expect to receive from a stranger for the same lodging. The value should include a share of utilities like heat, electricity, and water.

To determine if you provided more than half the support for a qualifying relative, compare your contributions to the total support the person received. This total includes funds from all sources, including the person’s own wages, savings, or government benefits. If your contributions are more than 50% of the total, you meet the test.

Certain funds are not included in the total support calculation. For example, scholarships for tuition are not counted. Money the child saves rather than spends is also not counted as support they provided for themselves.

Available Tax Credits for Dependents

Claiming an adult child as a dependent can provide tax benefits, primarily the Credit for Other Dependents. This is a nonrefundable credit worth up to $500 for each qualifying dependent. A nonrefundable credit can reduce your tax liability to zero, but you cannot get any of it back as a refund.

To claim this credit, your dependent must be a U.S. citizen, U.S. national, or U.S. resident alien. The credit is reduced for taxpayers with a modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) over $200,000, or $400,000 for those married filing jointly. This credit is for dependents who do not qualify for the Child Tax Credit.

Claiming a dependent can also allow other tax advantages. You may be able to include medical expenses you paid for the child in your medical expense deduction. If you claim a student as a dependent, you may be able to claim education benefits like the American Opportunity Credit for their college expenses, though the student cannot claim it themselves.