Can You Claim an Aged Parent as a Dependent?

Taking care of aging parents is difficult, but it’s also expensive.

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If your aged parent has a bad fall, health problem, or dementia and can’t live alone, what do you do? In the United States, the median annual cost for assisted living is $73,548, or approximately $6,129 per month, according to Senior Living. Many can’t afford this. That means mom or dad moves in with you.

You’re not alone. According to the AARP, 53 million people in the United States are caring for an aging family member. Taking care of aging parents is not only difficult but also expensive. If you’re caring for an aging parent, you may be able to claim them as a dependent and receive tax deductions or credits. But there are strict qualifications that must be met by the IRS. Four tests must be met for a person to be your qualifying dependent.

Cannot Be a Qualifying Child Test

Unlike a qualifying child, a qualifying relative can be any age. According to the IRS, there is no age test for a qualifying relative. A child isn’t your qualifying relative if the child is your qualifying child or the qualifying child of another taxpayer.

Member of Household or Relationship Test

To be considered a dependent, one of two relationship qualifications must be met. One is that they must live with you all year as a member of your household.

The other is that the individual must be related to you in one of these ways. This is the qualifying relative test. They must not already be considered your qualifying child or someone else’s. You can’t double-dip.

Once this hurdle is cleared, the IRS looks at the relationship test. The individual must live with you all year as part of your household. Or, be related to you as a parent, sibling, in-law, grandchild, etc.

The big difference is that if they’re closely related to you, they don’t need to live with you the whole year, but if they’re not on the IRS list, for example, a friend or partner, they must live with you the full year.

Gross Income Test and Support Test

The gross income test and support test go hand in hand and often confuse taxpayers.

When you claim an aged parent as a dependent, the IRS looks at the gross income test and the support income test. These two tests have different rules, but you must pass both for your parent to be considered a dependent.

According to the IRS, the limit on gross income for the proposed dependent was $5,050 in 2024 and $5,200 in 2025. Social Security doesn’t count toward gross income unless it’s taxable. For example, if your parent’s only income is Social Security and is not taxable, it doesn’t count toward that $5,200 in 2025.

If your parent has income like a pension, dividends, wages, etc., that’s high enough to make part of their Social Security taxable, then the taxable portion counts toward the $5,200. In other words, Social Security is typically excluded from gross income unless your parent has enough additional income to make it taxable.

Support Test

Once you’ve passed the gross income test, you move on to the support test. This is where it becomes confusing.

Even if Social Security isn’t taxable, it’s still counted when determining support. You must provide more than half of your parent’s total support. The IRS considers all the Social Security money your parent has to use for their own expenses. It counts toward their support. For example:

• Mom receives $10,000 in Social Security.
• You pay $12,000 toward her food, housing, medical bills, etc.
• Total combined support is $22,000.
• You provided $12,000, which is more than half of her support.

The result is that she passes the support test.

So, if your parent passes all of these tests, they would be considered your dependent.

Medical and Other Costs

Once your parent meets all the IRS dependency tests, you can take an itemized deduction for any medical expenses. But here’s where the IRS gives you some leeway and makes allowances for specific situations.

According to the IRS, you can deduct medical expenses you pay for someone who would have been your dependent except for one of these three reasons:

• They made too much income.
• They filed a joint return.
• You (or your spouse, if filing jointly) could be claimed as a dependent on someone else’s return.

The bottom line is that although they don’t technically qualify as your dependent, because of these three exceptions, you can still deduct their medical expenses if you paid them.

According to the IRS, you can only itemize medical and dental expenses during the taxable year once they exceed 7.5 percent of your adjusted gross income (AGI) for the year.

This deduction only applies to expenses not covered by insurance. But you can deduct any insurance premiums.

Claiming Parent as a Dependent May Benefit You

If you find yourself paying your parents’ expenses, claiming them as a dependent may be beneficial to you.

However, your parent must meet eligibility requirements. Once they pass the dependent tests, you can start deducting the cost of caring for them.

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