My mother is a citizen of another country and has never lived in the US (except for extended visits), has no SSN. I send her regular monetary support. Can I claim her as dependent, or get some other tax break, maybe based on gift giving?

No. To be claimed as a dependent, your mother must have spent SOME time in the U.S.

Thank you for your response Atlanta Tax Expert.
How do you define 'some' time? She was in the US from 12/09/05-04/10/06. So that's about 3.5 months in 2006. She was here on the visitors visa. Is that the only criteria?

In my opinion, that visit IS enough to claim her as a dependent.

Remember, NO ONE ELSE can be claiming her on ANY tax return (U.S. or foreign) and you must have provided over half of her total support.

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