ITIN & Claim for parents as Dependent in USA

freephoneid · Sep 12, 2009, 02:12 PM

Hi,
My parents stayed in CA, USA for 178 days. Can I show them as dependent while filing taxes for year 2009?

I supported them completely while they were in US. They're india citizen & are retired.

If so, can I take the passport notary no itself so that I can show it while filing taxes along with W7?

help.

Regards!

freephoneid · Oct 3, 2009, 03:48 PM

Hi AtlantaTaxExpert & all others who replied to this forum,
Thanks for all your great helpful answers!!!!

In order to make things more clear, I'm asking few more questions...I'll really appreciate if you can answer those as well..

1. A person XYZ's parents stayed in US in year 2009 from, say Mar 22, 2009 to Sep 15, 2009 (Total Days = 178)& went back to India.
2. Now, if XYZ's parents come back again in next year 2010 & will be staying for 124 days between anytime from Jan to Dec 2010,

Then, I belive XYZ can claim them as dependent while filing tax return (in year 2011) for year 2010, am I correct?

Thanks!

Five Rings · Oct 4, 2009, 01:39 PM

Read the rules for substantial presence:

Substantial Presence Test

freephoneid · Oct 7, 2009, 02:19 AM

Hi,

1. As per the link, 124+ 178/3 = 124+59=183 days, so parents can be claimed as dependent,right?

2. Related question - If the spouse is not working (homemaker) & she spent 7 months out of US & she is not US citizen, then can we still show spouse as dependent? Is this 183 days rule applicable for spouse too?

3. Another related question - A new born baby who is born in US in the month of Aug (who has not completed 183 days since born in that year) can be claimed as dependent or not? Is this 183 days rule applicable for new born baby too?

Thanks!

Five Rings · Oct 7, 2009, 07:38 AM

1. yes

2. There is a better way. If you are a citizen or resident alien and your wife is a nonresident alien you can both choose to treat her as a US resident. She has an ITIN? If not you must get one.
You file as married filing jointly.

Go here and read about it on page 10
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p519.pdf

3. The baby is a US citizen. Congratulations by the way.
He/she is considered present for the entire year, you take the child as a dependent, and claim the child tax credit ($1,000) too.

Five Rings · Oct 7, 2009, 01:08 PM

You understand that your parents will need ITINs for you to claim them as dependents, right?

On the Form W-7 check box (d) filling in your name and number where required. One W-7 for each of them. Submit these forms with your tax return to:
Internal Revenue Service
ITIN Operation
P.O. Box 149342
Austin, TX 78714-9342

freephoneid · Oct 10, 2009, 09:43 PM

Hello Five Rings,
Thanks for all your detailed responses!

How come a baby born in US do not need to go through 183 days test? I mean if a person's baby is born on 30 Dec, can the parents still claim $1000 credit??

Also, I'm a resident alien & my wife has an TIN as well as SSN. If she spends say, 10 months out of US & live in US only for Nov & Dec, can I still show her as dependent while filing as Married Jointly? If so, why 183 days rule is not considered in this case??

Thanks!

freephoneid · Oct 13, 2009, 10:37 PM

Hi AtlantaTaxExpert,

Understood!!

Thanks again for the reply.

Regarding my question related to showing parents as dependent, Fiverings has given the link for publication p519.pdf

You've also mentioned that if parents can meet SPT, they can be claimed as dependent. But when I went through the above PDF, it has a flow diagram on page 5 which has a question at the end "Can you show that for 2008 you have a tax home in a foreign
country and have a closer connection to that country than to the
United States?"

Can you tell me how can we prove that the answer to this is "No" (assuming parents satisfy SPT) so that we can show parents as dependent while filing returns?

Thanks!