Posted by Nancy 4 years ago In:

Nancy
Nancy Asked:

Tax Deduction

In August 2008, we took a friend-in-trouble into our home.

She had moved to our area, and upon arrival found that the home she purchased had been destroyed by the former owner.  She quite literally had no place to go.

Our friend is on SS disability with no other income and does not have to file taxes.

We have essentially been supporting her since August.  We have charged no rent or utilities, and have supplied most of her food and necessities so her minimal finances could be used for repairing her home.

Are any of our expenses for our friend's support tax deductible?

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Answers

Dyiana
Dyiana Answered:

According to the IRS: You cannot claim a person as a dependent unless that person is your qualifying child or qualifying relative. http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p501.pdf A qualifying relative is: child, stepchild, foster child, or a descendant of any of them (for example, your grandchild), adopted child. Your brother, sister, half-brother, half-sister, stepbrother, stepsister, your father, mother, grandparent, or a direct ancestor (but NOT a foster parent), a stepfather, stepmother, a niece, a nephew, an aunt, an uncle, a son-in-law, daughter-in-law, mother-in-law, brother-in-law, or sister-in-law. Unless your "friend" is one of the qualifying relatives listed above, then you cannot claim that person as a dependent even if you did support them for over 1/2 a year.

The only way to deduct any of the expenses paid on her behalf would be if you itemized deductions and added in those expenses to your expenses (food is not an allowable itemized deduction).
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