Question

Rosa is a single parent who maintains a home in Durham in which she and her 16-year-old daughter, Maria, reside. She also provides most of the support for her son, Carmelo, age 25, who is a full-time student at Duke Law School, lives at home, and earns $3,500 as a part-time waiter at a local diner. Which of the following statements is true of Rosa's tax return?

a.Maria is a qualifying relative, while Carmelo is a qualifying child of Rosa.

b.Neither Maria nor Carmelo is a qualifying child of Rosa.

c.Both Maria and Carmelo are qualifying children of Rosa.

d.Carmelo is a qualifying relative, while Maria is a qualifying child of Rosa.

Answer 1

Per IRS, a taxpayer can claim a person as a Qualifying child on meeting the following requirements:-

i) The person in question is your son, daughter, adopted child, foster child, etc.

ii.) Brother, sister , half brother, half sister, or a descendant of any of them such as nephew or niece.

Age:-

i.) At the end of the filing year, the child was 19 years or younger

or

ii.) At the end of the filing year, the child was younger than 24 years and a full-time student.

Based on the above criteria , Maria qualifies for the Qualifying Child exemption as she is the daughter of Rosa and is under 19 years of age.

However, Carmela is not a qualifying child but would qualify to be the Qualifying relative of Rosa as he has met the following requirements of a qualifying relative:-

a.) Carmelo's gross income is less than $4,200

b.) Carmelo hasn't qualified for the qualifying child status of Rosa

c.) Rosa has provided more than half of the support of Carmelo.

Hence, based on above observations, while Maria is a Qualifying child, Carmelo is a Qualifying relative of Rosa. - Option D is correct.

Option A is incorrect because the option mentions the opposite of the actual status of both Maria and Carmelo.

Option B is incorrect. Maria is a qualifying child of Rosa and hence this is incorrect.

Option C is incorrect because Carmelo does not qualify the age test in claiming the Qualifying Child status.

Option D is correct based on the above observations. Carmelo is a qualifying relative and Maria is a qualifying child of Rosa.