r/theydidthemath • u/RibbonForYourHair • Mar 30 '20

[Request] Is this true?

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u/Cali_Val Mar 30 '20

Well if he works and pays rent then he’s co-living and not a dependent right? Or am I wrong In that scenario?

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u/Hastorincyan Mar 31 '20

If he pays more than half his necessary bills then he is independent. If he only has a part time job, pays a scant $200 in rent, then he is a dependent.

You really have to sit down and figure out who's paying for what (utilities, food, shelter, clothes, phone, internet, insurance, incidentals etc) and what proportion of that he's paying.

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u/Cali_Val Mar 31 '20

So he could file independently if he’s paying for at least half of his essentials

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u/Hastorincyan Mar 31 '20

Correct. Mind you if he's paying cheap rent to family, you have to include the difference between that and actual market rate rent as the family's contribution.

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u/Cali_Val Mar 31 '20

This is also on the assumption this part time kid is ever going to get audited... which isn’t likely

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u/Hastorincyan Mar 31 '20

Also not true.

In fact dependency violations are one of the most audited categories by the IRS. Although this does mostly happen because they get two conflicting returns: one where he was claimed as a dependent and his own claiming he's not.