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How much of a tax deduction does the IRS allow for tax exemptions?
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| Personal tax exemptions reduce your taxable
income on your tax return. Each personal
tax exemption you claim on
your tax return is the equivalent of a $3,650 tax deduction. Generally, you are
allowed one tax exemption for yourself and, if you are married, one tax exemption for your spouse,
and, if you have dependents, one tax exemption for each dependent on your tax return.
You have to be married on the last day of the tax year to claim
a tax exemption for your spouse on your tax return. If your child was born alive on or before December 31st, and all five of the
tax
exemption tests are met, you can take a dependency tax exemption on
your tax return. You can also take the
Child Tax Credit on your tax return.
The table below shows
your allowed tax deduction based on the number of your tax exemptions on
your tax return.
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| Number of
Exemptions |
Allowed Deduction |
Number of Exemptions |
Allowed Deduction |
| 1 |
$3,650 |
6 |
$21,900 |
| 2 |
$7,300 |
7 |
$25,550 |
| 3 |
$10,950 |
8 |
$29,200 |
| 4 |
$14,600 |
9 |
$32,850 |
| 5 |
$18,250 |
10 |
$36,500 |
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You
are allowed one tax exemption for each person you can claim as a dependent on
your tax return. In order to claim
a dependent on your tax return there are five tests you must meet:
 | Member of Household or Relationship Test |
| Gross Income Test |
| Support Test |
| Joint Return Test |
| Citizenship Test |
A person qualifying as your dependent:
| generally may be your child, stepchild, adopted child, grand child, great-grand child,
son or daughter in law, father or mother in law, brother or sister in law, parent,
brother, sister, grand parent, step-parent, stepbrother or sister, half brother or sister,
and, if related by blood, uncle, aunt, niece, or nephew. The above relatives do not have
to live with you.
Also, any person, whether or not you are related to them, who is a member of your
household for the entire tax year, except for temporary absences; |
| must receive less than
$3,650 of gross income unless the dependent is your
child and either under age 19 or a full-time student under age 24; |
| must receive more than one-half of his or her support from you; |
| cannot file a joint
tax return with his or her spouse, unless the joint tax return is filed
solely to obtain a tax refund when neither the child nor the spouse is required to
file a tax return; and |
| must be a U.S. citizen or national, or a resident of the U.S., Canada, or Mexico. |
A child who is paying more than one-half of his or her own support may not be claimed
as a dependent and you cannot take a tax exemption on your tax return.
To claim dependency tax exemptions for any child on your
tax return, the child must
have a Social Security or taxpayer identification number. A taxpayer identification number
can be obtained by
filing Form SS-5 with your local Social Security Administration office. An original birth
certificate and one other document certifying the child's identity must be provided. It
takes approximately two weeks to receive a Social Security or taxpayer identification number.
Divorce or Separation
The parent who has custody of the child for the greater part of the
tax year generally may
claim the child as a dependent on his/her tax return, regardless of who provides more financial support. This
rule does not apply if:
| the custodial parent gives up the
tax deduction by signing a written declaration stating
that he or she will not claim the child as a dependent on his/her tax return, and the non-custodial parent
attaches this statement to his/her tax return; |
| there is a written agreement executed before 1985 specifying that the non-custodial
parent gets the tax deduction on his/her tax return, and that parent provides at least $600 of support; or |
| a multiple-support agreement is in effect. |
Multiple Support Agreements
Family circumstances are often more complex than one taxpayer providing support for a
dependent. The law provides for multiple-support agreements. These multiple-support agreements usually
exist when a family group collectively supports a relative, oftentimes a parent.
You can claim the dependent as
a tax exemption on your tax return if:
| you paid more than 10% of the support; |
| the amount paid by you and others for the dependent's support is more than one half the
support; |
| each contributor could have claimed the
tax exemption on his/her tax return, except that each gave less than one
half of the support; |
| each contributor who paid more than 10% agrees that you can take the
tax exemption on your tax return. |
Each contributor must sign a Multiple Support Agreement, Form 2120. You
then attach them to your tax return. A different person can claim the tax exemption
on his/her tax return each
tax year.
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Related Tax Stuff |
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IRS publications about exemptions:
For further tax information about exemptions refer to the Form 1040
instructions or
Form 1040A
instructions. Also see
IRS Publication 501, Exemptions and
IRS Publication 17, Your Federal
Income Tax. |
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Ask Julian Block your IRS and tax questions! |
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If you can't find the answer to your IRS or tax question in our
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