Question about difficult child's living in temporary housing

[Nancy]

What address does your difficult child use for their permanent address for such things as tax purposes, jobs, bank accounts, etc?

Since difficult child is living in a sober house she has been using our address for those things but now it's time for tax concerns and she is not living in our community but will have to pay city taxes here and I'm not sure what to do. We also never changed her address for her bank statement and she gave our address for her job but I'm not sure we are doing the right thing since she hasn't lived here in 8 months.

There must be any people living in temporary housing and transient from month to month, what do they do?

Nancy

 

[klmno]

Nancy, since no one else has answered this, I'll throw out what I do but my difficult child is a minor. I am able to claim him on my taxes and consider him as living with me even though he is 'temporarily' incarcarcerated. That is based on fine print in the 1040 instructions. With your difficult child being 20yo, I would suppose that you could either claim her on your taxes and she could use your address as a permanent address, or she could claim 'no permanent'' address, but that would make her technically homeless. I'm speculating on that,....maybe she should use the sober house as her address if you don't want to claim her on your taxes. She could ask others at the shelter what they are doing. If her income is below a certain level, wouldn't she be exempt from having to file a return anyway?

 

[Nancy]

We can't claim her on our income taxes any longer anyway because she is over 18 and no longer in school so that's not an issue. She still has to file taxes but may not have to pay anything so I guess I shouldn't care what address she uses.

I am reluctant to use the sober house address because it is probably very temporary and I really don't like sensitive documents going there.

Nancy

 

[Signorina]

I might consider a PO box (around $30 a year) or even a mailbox at one of those postal/shipping/packaging stores that are in some strip centers. The are open more hours and they have an actual street address which could help w job apps etc.

 

[DDD]

Our address is the permanent address for both difficult child's. During the short times difficult child#1 has not lived with us I forwarded mail rarely...usually just hung on to it until he showed up. There are two reasons for that choice. First all kinds of applications require that you list all places of residence for x years. Should things improve it gives the appearance of stabiity to have one address. Secondly difficult child#1 is 24 and he remains as our dependent because we do provide over half (WAY over half, of course) of his support. We include his medical bills with ours in itemizing etc. Perhaps your difficult child has earned substantial income and that makes a diffrence? In our case that's not an issue. DDD

 

[Nancy]

DDD that makes sense. We think she should have a permanent stable address too for job apps and such. She has very little income but it was our understanding after age 19 they can't be claimed as a dependant unless they are in school full time. We weren't able to claim her last year according to our accountant.

Nancy

 

[HaoZi]

A P.O. box or address at a mail place (where it has a street address then the box #) would be the way for her to go I think.

 

[DDD]

Nancy one of our accountants is wrong, lol. I read carefully the IRS tax manual and on their web site and haven't seen any change. GFGmom also claims difficult child#2 who is over eighteen and not a student. Due to the high medical costs we incurred with hospitals etc. with difficult child#1 it was nice to at least get the tax benefit. DDD

Come to think of it I believe you can claim others who are dependent upon you so long as they meet the guidelines of "who's eligible".

 

[DammitJanet]

I took tax accounting and my father was a corporate tax accountant and from what I was told, as long as the person lived with you for over half the year, made under a certain amount of money, and you supported them over half the time then you can claim them as a deduction. Normally that person is your spouse, child, grandchild, foster child, etc but it can be a partner or significant other now. Or child of such or even child you have taken in without formal papers.

It does become a different situation if you are trying to claim earned income credit. You cant claim that if they arent disabled or in school past a certain age. I think that might be 19.

Ok...now as far as the addresses thing you were asking about.

Cory and Mandy still use my address as their mailing address for most things. He gives his "living address" to people but gives a mailing address as mine so that all actual mail comes to my house because it would just be too difficult to keep changing addresses every time he moved. Also my phone number is his main contact number for emergencies. If he has to give anyone a phone number to reach him at he gives my number because he knows I will always be able to be reached even if he is out of minutes and I can always get up with him even if I have to go get him.

I dont mind. Heck, I still get one piece of mail that the Marines send Jamie every year..lol.

 

[Signorina]

Nancy, it's likely that she is a "qualifying relative" for dependent status. (not a qualifying child")

A "qualifying relative." If your adult child is not a "qualifying child" under IRS rules, he or she nevertheless may be a "qualifying relative." An adult child for this purpose can be any age, not being restricted to the age 24 cutoff in the case of a "qualifying child."

Ancillary benefits. Once you can claim an adult child as a dependent, certain additional tax benefits can result. In addition to write-offs for tuition payments, you may be able to claim head of household filing status if you are a single parent; and an itemized deduction for your child's medical and dental expenses.The main obstacle to qualifying an adult child as a "relative" not found under the "qualifying child" test is that your son or daughter must not have had income in excess of $3,650 for the entire tax year. For those only recently unemployed, or willing to work a part-time job in the interim, or who have some investment interest coming in, this might prove a difficult ceiling to stay below for an entire calendar tax year.One major advantage for many parents of using the "qualifying relative" test is that the adult child does not need to move in! You only need to provide more than half of his or her support; living under the same roof is not required. This provides great flexibility in helping out an adult child located in another city or town, or even in the same general area, who is going through a difficult time of unemployment.

Code: from the IRSDefinition of a 'qualifying child' and 'qualifying relative'

http://www.irs.gov/irb/2008-02_IRB/ar14.html


Section 152(c)(1) defines a 'qualifying child' of a taxpayer as an individual who: (A) bears a certain relationship to the taxpayer, (B) has the same principal place of abode as the taxpayer for more than one-half of the taxable year, (C) meets certain age requirements, and (D) has not provided over one-half of his or her own support for the calendar year.

Section 152(d)(1) provides, in part, that to be a 'qualifying relative' of a taxpayer, an individual must: (A) bear a certain relationship to the taxpayer, (B) have gross income for the calendar year that is less than the exemption amount (as defined in section 151(d)), and (C) derive over one-half of his or her support for the calendar year from the taxpayer. In addition, section 152(d)(1)(D) requires that the individual not be a qualifying child of the taxpayer or of 'any other taxpayer' for the taxable year. Section 152(d)(2)(H) provides that a qualifying relative may include an individual who has the same principal place of abode as the taxpayer and who is a member of the taxpayer's household.​

 

[Nancy]

"Qualifying Children
To be claimed as a qualifying child, the person must meet four criteria:
Relationship — the person must be your child, step child, adopted child, foster child, brother or sister, or a descendant of one of these (for example, a grandchild or nephew).

Residence — for more than half the year, the person must have the same residence as you do.

Age the person must be
under age 19 at the end of the year, or
under age 24 and a be a full-time student for at least five months out of the year, or
any age and totally and permanently disabled.

Support the person did not provide more than half of his or her own support during the year."

DDD I wouldn't presume to say your accountant is incorrect, maybe your situation is different. All I know is he told us we lost both easy child and difficult child last year because easy child was 24 and graduated and difficult child was 19 and not in school. We were able to deduct medical bills for her though because she was covered under our insurance and with the treatment center costs we had a ton of medical bills. He even called us to verify the medical bills deductions were correct lol.

Nancy

 

[Signorina]

Nancy. she will likely be eligible for dependent status under the "qualifying RELATIVE" basis - not the "qualifying CHILD" basis. There is no age limit - just an income limit (for her) of $3650 per year.

And she doesn't need to live with you AT ALL to qualify as a relative.

 

[klmno]

Nancy, there are some exceptions listed in there somewhere regarding parents claiming kids. I know because I've double checked it twice to make sure that I could legally claim difficult child even though he's in Department of Juvenile Justice. I just don't remember off-hand exactly where they are or what all they include.

 

[Nancy]

Hmmmm now I will have to check further.

Nancy

 

[klmno]

I wish I could tell you exactly where to find the list(s) but I have no idea where my previous tax booklets are right now- all I remember is wondering WTH they didn't list those exceptions with the definitions of 'dependent'- maybe they are in the area of instructions for "standard deductions"- I'm just not sure.

 

[DammitJanet]

Was this thread actually asking for tax info or just for address info and get derailed? I dont claim any of mine on taxes so my info was only about where mine list their addresses not who claims who.

 

[klmno]

Oopss.....sorry if I derailed it!

 

[Nancy]

Haha it's ok. I originally wanted to know what to do about an address but tax info is appreciated too.

Nancy

 

[DDD]

I looked for a few minutes today and I think qualifying relative is how we get to claim him. Evidently you don't even have to be a blood relative for that designation. on the other hand...it could be because he has a disability but I don't think so. DDD

 

[KTMom91]

My best friend B has used my address as a mailing address for the last ten years and has never lived here. There was a period of time after her first husband died where she was couch surfing, and at least this way the important mail didn't get lost in the shuffle. If there's any question (like with law enforcement), I've just told the nice officers this is her mailing address only and I don't know where she's staying (which, before she had the stroke, was the truth!)