My husband and I support my son, his fiancŽ, and child (my grandchild). They work part time in jobs but, we supply food and housing. In fact, my grandchild has his own room in my house. Can I take them as a deduction or tax credit for my MN taxes? I know my son only made 13K and his fiancŽ only made 9K because of maternity leave. We don't see a penny of what they make. We have taken on a major financial burden with the 3 of them living with us, and they can't afford to help us out with living expenses.

You can not claim your son or his fiancé as dependents because (a) they are over age 19 and hence are not considered "qualifying children," and (b) they make over $3650 and so are not considered "qualifying relatives." (Also - the fiancé isn't a relative of yours, so she is disqualified on that basis as well).

As for the grandson: if (a) he lived with you at least half the year he may be considered as your "qualifynig child," or (b) if he lived elsewhere for more than half the year but you provided at least half his support for the year then he may be considered your "qualifying relative." However, be aware that both your son and his fiancé may also claim him as their dependent, and they have priority rights to do so. In other words - be sure to talk this over with both of them so that only one person claims the child.

Once again, ebaines nails it with all of the issues.

On a practical level, if you are getting professional tax help, have your son and future daughter-in-law join you when you go see the tax pro and let him do everyone's returns. He can then model all of the returns to determine which is the best course of action tax-wise.