 Before jumping into the questionnaire, let's first just take a quick look at the form 1040 to see where the dependents would be recorded They're going to be down here under the dependents. Typically, we'll have the name Social Security number Relationship and then checking off if they qualify for the child tax credit or the credit for other dependents That's the first thing that will typically be coming to mind when you're thinking about the dependent What's the benefit of the dependent usually child tax credit or other dependent credit? But there could also be an impact on a change to the filing status Possibly moving someone up from single to head of household if I go to page 2 There could possibly be a change in the tax tables being used if there was a change to filing status such as single To head of household, but mainly we're talking here line 19 The child tax credit or credit for other dependents now normally It's pretty straightforward to see whether someone is going to be qualifying as a child because if it's a young child Then obviously you would think that they would be a dependent fairly straightforward But you can imagine situations where there's going to be gray area a lot of situations in which case you might want to go Through the formal questionnaire now as we think of the formal questionnaire We usually think first in terms of a qualifying child and does the child then qualify for the child tax credit Because that is going to be usually the most beneficial Component and then if they don't qualify for the child tax credit, do they qualify for the other? Dependents so then that's going to be the format of the questionnaire So let's jump on over to the questionnaire here and you could see the general kind of questions will be one Do you have a qualifying child? We're going to go through those basically questions step two is your qualifying child is Your qualifying child your dependent on question number two and then question number three or step three Does your qualifying child qualify you for the child tax credit or credit for other? Dependents so if they're qualifying child then do they qualify to give you the biggest benefit? Which is going to be the child tax credit if not, then they're going to default to the other dependents credit For is your quality is your qualifying relative your dependent? So now we're moving from qualifying child to a qualifying Relative and asking if they're a dependent basically for fitting the whole concept of getting the child tax credit Basically moving to see whether we qualify for the other dependent credit step five Does your qualifying relative qualify you for the credit for other? Dependents and then you've got your definitions and what not down below so you can see the structure of this Qualifying child versus other dependent when they're qualifying child the question is do they qualify you for the child tax credit? Which will be more beneficial if not other dependents if they're not a qualifying child and they're another dependent Then the only thing you're looking to get then from a tax standpoint would be the other dependent Okay, let's go into it in more detail. So step one. Do you have a qualifying child? So a qualifying child is a child who is your son daughter step child foster child brother sister step brother step sister Half brother half sister or descendant of any of them for example your grandchild niece or nephew So it's kind of like a relationship test quite broad there and Under age 19 at the end of 2022 and younger than you so obviously They would normally be younger than you you would expect unless there was an unusual situation or your spouse if filing jointly So we're really usually looking at this threshold of under 19 but The it or it moves up to 24 so under age 24 at the end of 2022 a student Which is defined later and younger than you so we've got the threshold of being 19, but that 19 pushes up to 24 But for a qualifying child if they're a student and then of course we'll have to look in the definition of what qualifies for a student Because we could get into the weeds in terms of the gray area as to whether they qualify for that So or any age and permanently and totally disabled so if they're totally disabled then the age of requirement is removed and Who don't provide over half their support for 2022 so that could be like the support test If you want more questions about the support test you could see publication 501 but basically you provide more than half of the support and Who isn't filing a joint return for 2022? So usually obviously if they were filing a joint return They wouldn't usually be a dependent of yours Because now they're filing as a joint return because they're married or something like that But there could be an exception to that rule or is filing a joint return for 2022 Only to claim a refund of withheld income tax or estimated tax paid So if you have that exception you can take a look at publication 501 for that so again general age rule 19 pushes up to 24 if they're a student that's the age Test and then do you provide the support test in essence? You provide over half the support for 2022 and then the filing Test dude, you know, they don't file a joint return if they file a joint return normally that would be non you know, then they'd be fine married filing joint and Who lived with you for more than half of 2022? So if the child didn't live with you for the required time you can see exceptions to time to lived with you so now they lived with you for more than half of 2022 so you've got the support test and the lived with you test here and The exceptions could include things like well, what would happen if they were At a medical area or getting treatment or something like that Does that account for them living with me for more than half of 2022 caution? If the child meets the conditions to be a qualifying child of any other person other than your spouse if filing jointly For 2022 see qualifying child of more than one person later You can imagine situations where you have a joint custody situation where it's like okay Now this child actually qualifies for two individuals here. And so what do I what do I do in that situation? So situation you can we could dive into the weeds of that particular situation But we won't right now. So do you have a childhood meets the conditions out to be your qualifying child? So given those questionnaires if the answer is yes, then we go to step two if no Then we go to step four So if yes, then we want to move forward and say do we qualify now for the qualified child tax credit? Or for the other dependent credit for the qualifying child if they don't qualify then and I say no here Then we're gonna say do they qualify for an other dependent possibly getting the lower credit in that case Step two is your qualifying child. You're dependent So one was the child a US citizen US national US resident alien or resident of Canada or Mexico If there's questions on that you could see publication 519 So the definition of a US national or US resident alien if the child was adopted see exception to the citizen test later if yes, then we continue if no They can't claim the child as a dependent. So we'll assume yes was the child married. So Yeah, if yes see married person later if no Then we're gonna continue typically we would assume they weren't married because if they were married Then they wouldn't be a dependent because they would be filing a married filing joint return We would assume normally so could you or your spouse of filing jointly be claimed as a dependent on someone else's 2022 return if the person who claimed you on their 2022 return is not required to file and isn't filing a 2022 tax return or is filing a 2022 return only to claim a refund withheld an income tax or estimated tax paid check. No, so So obviously would muddy the water a bit if you yourself were gonna be able to be claimed by someone else as A dependent so because you would think that if someone is a dependent of yours Then normally you wouldn't be a dependent of someone else, right? So that would again be another kind of Somewhat more unusual type of situation, although obviously that would could it will happen in life a lot So if yes stop you can't claim any dependence complete the rest of form 1040 if no So you can claim this child as a dependent meaning you can't be claimed as anyone else as a dependent So then you're here complete columns one through three of the dependent section on page one of form 1040 or 1040 SR for this child then go to step three