your child a car that is registered in your name
and you both use the car equally, this also would not be considered support
towards your child.
Nor are you considered to have
provided more than half of your child's support if your child, using his
personal funds, buys a car for $4,500 and you provided only $4,000 towards
his support. Also, you have not provided more than half of your son's
support if your son receives $2,200 from the GI Bill and he uses this amount
for his education and you provided only $2,000 towards his support. Another
instance of you not meeting more than half of your child's support is when
you and your brother each provide 20% of your mother's support for the year
but a two other people not related to her provide the other 60%. Hence, you do not have to be related to someone
to claim an exemption for them under a multiple support agreement.
You can claim an exemption for someone even if
you do not meet the more than half of their total support test. For example,
if your father lives with you and receives 25% of
his support from social security, 40% from you, 24% from his
brother (your uncle), and 11% from a friend. Either you or your
uncle can take the exemption for your father if the other signs a statement
agreeing not to take the exemption. However, you have to have provided at
least 10% of your dependent's support in order to do this. The person who agrees to take the exemption
under a multiple support agreement must attach Form 2120, or a similar declaration, to his tax
return and must keep for his records the signed statements.
If the parents divorced or separated during the
year and the child lived with both parents before the
separation, the custodial parent is the one with whom the child
lived with for the greater number of nights during the rest of
the year. A child is treated as living with a parent for a night
if the child sleeps at a parent's home, with the parent either
present or not present. Additionally, a child is treated as living with a
parent for a night if the child sleeps in the company of the parent, when
the child does not sleep at a parent's home.
Most taxpayers have a choice of either taking a
standard deduction or itemizing their deductions. If you have a
choice, you use the method that gives you the lower tax and
higher deduction. Some persons are not eligible for the standard
deduction. Your standard deduction is zero and you should
itemize any deductions you have if your filing status is married
filing separately, and your spouse itemizes deductions on his or her tax
return. Also, your standard deduction is zero and you should itemize any
deductions you have if you are filing a tax return for a short tax year
because of a change in your annual accounting period. In addition, if you
are a non-resident or dual-status alien during the year, you should itemize
your deductions and your standard deduction is zero.
Thomas died May 6, 2014. Thomas was single and he
would have turned 65 on December 20, 2014. His standard
deduction for 2014 is $7,750 because had he not died he would have turned 65
towards the end of the year.
If your itemized deductions are less than the
amount of your standard deduction, you can elect to itemize
deductions on your federal tax return rather than take the standard
deduction. Furthermore, you can itemize your deductions if the tax benefit
of being able to itemize your deductions on your state
