Requirements to Claim a Child

• To claim a child as a dependent on your taxes, you must be the child's legal parent or grandparent. The child cannot be 19 or older at the end of the calendar year, unless the child is a full-time student or permanently disabled. Full-time students can be claimed until the year they turn 24. The child cannot provide more than half of his own support. In addition, the child must live with you for at least half of the year, unless he is away at school.
  
  

Married Couples

• If you're married and file a joint return, you don't have to decide who will claim the child as a dependent because she can be claimed on your joint return without being identified as the child of a single dependent. If you're married but file separate returns, the parent with the higher income should claim the child because it'll result in the greatest tax savings for your family.
  
  

Tie-Breaking Factors

• Even if both parents meet the criteria to claim a child as a dependent, the IRS doesn't permit both to claim the child on their tax return or to split the exemption. Instead, the IRS requires the parents to decide who gets to claim the child. If the parents cannot decide, the parent whom the child lived with most during the year can claim the exemption. If still tied, the parent with the higher adjusted gross income gets to claim the child.
  
  

Claiming the Child

• If you want to claim a child on your tax return, you must file your taxes using either Form 1040 or Form 1040A. On either tax form, the child's name, relationship to you and Social Security number goes on line 6c. Be sure to enter the Social Security number correctly, as the IRS warns that this is one of the most common errors found on tax returns. This exemption is added to any other exemptions you claim, including yourself, and decreases your taxable income for the year.