[Rivers1]

If my 6 foster child lived with me for 175 day is 2009 can I claim them on my taxes

[AtlantaTaxExpert]

Foster children CAN be a qualifying child, but, as a qualifying child, they MUST live with you for OVER half of the year. You missed that mark by 8 days.

However, all is NOT lost!

The foster children can be Qualifying Relatives if they meet four requirements:

1) They are NOT a qualifying child - your six foster children are NOT qualifying children because they did not live with your for at least half of the year. FIRST REQUIREMENT MET!

2) Member of Household Test or Relationship Test.

- Have to live with your as a member of your household for the entire year

OR

- Be related to you in one of the ways listed under Relatives who do not have to live with you.

Foster children is one of the relatives that do NOT have to live with you. SECOND REQUIREMENT MET!

3) Gross Income Test: None of the foster children can have a gross income MORE than $3,650. I assume that none of these foster children make this kind of money, so THIRD REQUIREMENT MET!

4) Support Test - You must provide MORE than half of the child's total support for the year. I suspect this will not be a problem, but there is a worksheet that you can use for each child on Page 35 of IRS Pub 17 to determine if you have provided over half of each child's support. You can download IRS Pub 17 at Internal Revenue Service. You need to carefully complete this worksheet for EACH child and keep it with your tax records, because...

The biggest issue may be that someone else COULD claim the child! If another family that provided foster care for the child does claim that child, it could cause some issues with the IRS when they come calling to determine who gets the claim the foster child.

Good luck!