Do You Have A Qualifying Child on Your Taxes?

There are five tests that must be met for a child to be your qualifying child. The five tests are:

* Relationship
* Age
* Residency
* Support
* Special test for qualifying child of more than one person

Relationship Test-
* Your son, daughter,stepchild, eligible foster child, or a descendant of any of them
* Your brother, sister, half brother, half sister, stepbrother, stepsister, or a descendant of any of them.

An Adopted Child--An adopted child is always treated as your own child. The term "adopted child" includes a child who was lawfully placed with you for legal adoption.

Eliglible Foster Child--An eligible foster child is an individual who is placed with you by an authorized placement agency or by judgement, decree, or other of any court of competent jurisdiction.

Age Test- To meet this test, a child must be:
* Under age 19 at the end of the year
* A fill-time student under age 24 at the end of the year, or
* Permanently and totally disabled at any time during the year, regardless of age.

Residency Test--To meet this test, your child must have lived with you for more than half the year. There are exceptions for temporary abscences, children who were born or died during the year, kidnapped children, and children of divorced or separated parents.

Temporary Abscences--Your child is considered to have lived with you during periods of time when one of you, or both of you, or both, are temporarily absent due to special circumstances such as:
* Illness
* Education
* Business
* Vacation
* Military Service

Death Of A Child-
A child who was born or died during the year is treated as having lived with you all year if your home was the child's home the entire time he or she was alive during the year. The same is true if the child lived with you all year except for any required hospital stay following birth.