| The thought of a kidnapper inquiring about the child's social security number in the ransom note is pretty good dark humor. But I think the IRS has some restrictions on who you can claim as your dependent. To claim someone as your dependent child, they must be either: - Your son, daughter, stepchild, foster child, or a descendant (for example, your grandchild) of any of them; or - Your brother, sister, half brother, half sister, stepbrother, stepsister, or a descendant (for example, your niece or nephew) of any of them. To claim someone as your dependent relative, they must be either: - Your child, stepchild, foster child, or a descendant of any of them (for example, your grandchild). (A legally adopted child is considered your child.) - Your brother, sister, half brother, half sister, stepbrother, or stepsister. - Your father, mother, grandparent, or other direct ancestor, but not foster parent. - Your stepfather or stepmother. - A son or daughter of your brother or sister. - A son or daughter of your half brother or half sister. - A brother or sister of your father or mother. - Your son-in-law, daughter-in-law, father-in-law, mother-in-law, brother-in-law, or sister-in-law. [0] https://www.irs.gov/publications/p501#en_US_2020_publink1000... [1] https://www.irs.gov/publications/p501#en_US_2020_publink1000... |
The question that lingers in my mind is if your dependent is kidnapped and gone for too long (but not dead... let's say they're kidnapped on December 31st and returned 366 days later conveniently removing custody for an entire calendar year), are you ineligible to claim them as a dependent while they're missing? Seems like strictly and amorally speaking your financial burde has been lessened and you wouldn't need the tax relief for caring for that person.