Dependents

To qualify as your dependent, a person must meet all these tests:

1. The person must be related to you by blood, marriage or adoption, or live in your home for the whole year.

2. If married, the person cannot be filing a joint tax return unless the return is being filed just to get a refund of withheld taxes.

3. The person must be a U.S. citizen or resident alien, a resident of Canada or Mexico, or your adopted child who lived with you all year in a foreign country.

4. The person's gross income must be under $3,000, unless the person is your child and is under age 19 or, during five months of the year, was a full-time student under age 24. For this purpose, use the dependent's age as of December 31, 2002.

5. You (or your spouse, if married) paid over half the person's total living expenses for the year. Alternatively, you meet this test if:

   1. (1) the person is your child, and either you had custody for more than half the year, or the child's other parent has agreed to allow you to claim the child as your dependent under a divorce or separation agreement, or

   2. (2) you provided at least 10% of the person's support, no one person provided more than half the person's support, and the other people who supported the person agree that you can claim the person as your dependent.