Can my brother claim my 2 kids on his taxes? I didnt work this year so i cant?

Your brother CANNOT claim your children under the Qualifying Relative rule as they are your dependents under the Qualifying Child rule. This is plainly stated in IRS Pub 501.





They CAN qualify as your brother's dependents under the Qualifying Child rule, however, if ALL of the tests are met:





1. The child must be his son, daughter, stepchild, eligible foster child, brother, sister, half brother, half sister, stepbrother, stepsister, or a descendant of any of them. (Since your children are the decendents of his sister (you), they meet this test.)





2. The child must be (a) under age 19 at teh end of the year, (b) under age 24 at the end of the year and a full-time student or (c) any age if permanently and totally disabled. (Pretty straightforward here.)





3. The child must have lived with him for more than half of the year. (Unless your kids lived with him for more than half of the year, this is the one that will deny the exemption claim.)





4. The child must not have provided more than half of his or her own support for the year. (Note that it does NOT say that your brother must provide the support, only that the children not provide more than half of their OWN support.)





5. If the child meets the rules to be a qualifying child of more than one person, he must be the person entitled to claim the child as a qualifying child. (This relates to item #3 above. Assuming that they didn't live with him, this further denies his exemption claim.)





So the short answer is if the kids lived with him for more than half of the year then he can claim them. If they did not live with him, he cannot claim them. My gut tells me that they didn't live with him so the answer would be, ';No.';Can my brother claim my 2 kids on his taxes? I didnt work this year so i cant?
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Can my brother claim my 2 kids on his taxes? I didnt work this year so i cant?
In some cases it will be possible for your brother to claim your two children.





First, I assume you qualify to claim your children:





1. The children lived with you for more than half the year.


2. The children did not provide over 50% of their own support.





Next, I assume that you are not waiving the dependency exemption to the other parent, or if you are married, your spouse is not going to claim the children.





Finally, if your brother also meets the two conditions listed above, he can claim his nieces or nephews.
If your children live with him, or he pays the bulk of their support, then perhaps, depending on the circumstances. I've linked the IRS information on qualifications for dependency, for more information.
If your kids lived with your brother for over half the year, maybe. Otherwise NO, if they didn't live with him for over half the year.





Under the law several years ago, he might have been able to if he paid over half of their support. That law changed a few years back, and now he can't.





This has been a big area for tax fraud, and the IRS has been really cracking down on this type of claim lately.
only if they are his dependants
Whom ever the children lived with for over 1/2 the year is entitled to claim them... warning I've seen this done before, people trading kids in order to mess with the IRS... doing this can ruin your chances of qualifying for the Earned Income Credit in the future, so if your brother supported them, then let him claim them, but if you were on food stamps or government aid, then the kids, and yourself were dependents of the state, and no one can claim you guys.


Also, beware, once someone claims your kids, they have a habit of doing it again and again,
Only if your brother meets certain requirements.


Your brother can't claim the kids under ';Qualifying Child'; but can claim under ';Qualifying Relative.';





Here are the requirements for ';Qualifying Relative';.


1. The person cannot be your qualifying child or the qualifying child of anyone else.


2. The person either (a) must be related to you, or (b) must live with you all year as a member of your household.


3. The person's gross income for the year must be less than $3,300.


4. You must provide more than half of the person's total support for the year.





For the first requirement ';The person cannot be your qualifying child or the qualifying child of anyone else,'; it is necessary that you don't meet requirements 2 %26amp; 4, and only your brother meets these requirements.
if the kids qualify for the dependency test, then he can. you can check out Publication 17 for more information.
Technically, if he contributed over half of their upkeep. check at www.About.com %26gt;%26gt;taxes%26gt;%26gt;rules for claiming dependents on tax refunds





Good luck to you.