Can I Claim a Child on Income Taxes if She Is Receiving Survivor Benefits?

Dependent Requirements

The rules for claiming dependents, even if they are collecting survivor benefits, are quite simple. Your children must live with you for more than half the year; you must provide more than half of their support; and they must be under age 19, under age 24 and attending college full-time, or totally and permanently disabled for the tax year, with no age restriction. They must be qualifying children -- your son, daughter, foster children, stepchildren or adopted children -- they must be younger than you, cannot be claimed as a deduction on anyone else's return and their earnings cannot exceed yours.

When you qualify for and receive survivor's benefits for yourself and your children, you can receive one check for everyone's benefits, or each recipient can receive his own check. If you have young children, collecting one check makes sense, as you will likely use the money for their support. If you have older children, particularly if they are in college, it may be more practical to have those children receive their own checks. It also makes your taxes easier.

When you do your taxes, you must determine if any of the survivor's benefits are taxable, and if they are, how much. You must do the same for your children, unless they calculate their own taxes. For tax purposes, the benefits are taxable to the person who is legally entitled to collect them. If you have your children's benefits sent in your name, you can only claim the portion of that check to which you are entitled. Your children must claim the portion to which they are entitled, whether you give them the benefit or not. You add their portion to any other taxable income they have to calculate their taxes. If they meet all of the qualifying rules for dependents and, after adding their portion of the benefit to their other income their income does not exceed yours, you can still claim them as dependents.

In general, up to 50 percent of your benefits are taxable. To determine your taxable portion, take half of your survivor's benefits and add that to you regular earnings. If the result exceeds $34,000, or up to $44,000 if filing jointly, up to 85 percent of your benefit could be taxable. If you are married filing separately and you lived with your spouse at any time during the tax year, up to 85 percent of your benefits can be taxed.