Question

The year is 2020

Determine whether the individuals will qualify as the taxpayer's dependent in each of the following independent scenarios. Specify whether the dependent would come under the qualifying child category, the qualifying relative category, or "not applicable" (if the individual does not qualify as a dependent).

a. Andy maintains a household that includes a cousin (age 12), a niece (age 18), and a son (age 26). All are full-time students. Andy furnishes all of their support, and all are “members of the household.”

Cousin	Not a dependent	Not applicable
Niece	Qualified dependent	Qualifying child
Son	Qualified dependent	Qualifying relative

Is this correct?

Answer 1

(i) "Cousin - Not a dependent - Not applicable" is incorrect. The correct answer is,

Cousin - Qualified dependent - Qualifying relative

(ii) "Niece - Qualified dependent - Qualifying child" is correct.

(iii) "Son - Qualified dependent - Qualifying relative" is correct.

Reasons:

(i) Cousin, not being a qualifying child (fails relationship test), is a qualifying relative due to being a 'member of the household' and a full-time student.

(ii) Niece, being younger than 24 and a full-time student, passes both relationship and age tests to be a qualifying child.

(iii) Son, not being a qualifying child (fails age test), is a qualifying relative since he is a full-time student.