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Publication 501
Dependents,
Standard
Deduction,
and Filing
Information
For use in preparing
2025 Returns
Contents
What’s New
.................. 1
Reminders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Who Must File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Who Should File
............... 5
Filing Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Dependents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Social Security Numbers (SSNs) for
Dependents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Standard Deduction . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2025 Standard Deduction Tables . . . . 24
Enhanced Deduction for Seniors . . . . 26
How To Get Tax Help . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Index
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
What’s New
Who must file. In some cases, the amount of
income you can receive before you must file a
tax return has increased. Table 1 shows the filing requirements for most taxpayers.
Standard deduction increased. The standard deduction for taxpayers who don’t itemize
their deductions on Schedule A (Form 1040) is
higher for 2025 than it was for 2024. The
amount depends on your filing status. You can
use the 2025 Standard Deduction Tables near
the end of this publication to figure your standard deduction.
Enhanced deduction for seniors. Beginning
in 2025, taxpayers who are age 65 or older may
be eligible for the enhanced deduction for seniors. The maximum amount of the deduction is
$6,000 ($12,000 if married filing jointly and both
spouses are eligible). See Enhanced Deduction
for Seniors, later, for more information.
Get forms and other information faster and easier at:
• IRS.gov (English)
• IRS.gov/Spanish (Español)
• IRS.gov/Chinese (中文)
Feb 4, 2026
Trump accounts and new Form 4547. Recent legislation allows parents, guardians, and
other authorized individuals to elect to establish
a new type of individual retirement account,
called a Trump account, for the exclusive benefit
of certain children. If the child was born after
2024 and before 2029, is a U.S. citizen, and
meets certain other requirements, the authorized individual may also elect to receive a
$1,000 pilot program contribution to the child’s
Trump account. Both elections can be made on
Form 4547, which can be filed at the same time
as the authorized individual’s 2025 income tax
return. For more information on Trump accounts, and to learn how to make these elections, see Form 4547 and its instructions.
• IRS.gov/Korean (한국어)
• IRS.gov/Russian (Pусский)
• IRS.gov/Vietnamese (Tiếng Việt)
Publication 501 (2025) Catalog Number 15000U
Department of the Treasury Internal Revenue Service www.irs.gov
Table 1. 2025 Filing Requirements Chart for Most Taxpayers
THEN file a return
if your gross
income was at
least...**
IF your filing status is...
AND at the end of 2025 you
were...*
single
under 65
$15,750
65 or older
$17,750
head of household
under 65
$23,625
65 or older
$25,625
married filing jointly***
under 65 (both spouses)
$31,500
65 or older (one spouse)
$33,100
65 or older (both spouses)
$34,700
married filing separately
any age
$5
qualifying surviving spouse
under 65
$31,500
65 or older
$33,100
* If you were born before January 2, 1961, you’re considered to be 65 or older at the
end of 2025. (If your spouse died in 2025, see Death of spouse, later. If you’re
preparing a return for someone who died in 2025, see Death of taxpayer, later.)
** Gross income means all income you receive in the form of money, goods,
property, and services that isn’t exempt from tax, including any income from sources
outside the United States or from the sale of your main home (even if you can exclude
part or all of it). Don’t include any social security benefits unless (a) you’re married
filing a separate return and you lived with your spouse at any time during 2025, or (b)
one-half of your social security benefits plus your other gross income and any
tax-exempt interest is more than $25,000 ($32,000 if married filing jointly). If (a) or (b)
applies, see the Instructions for Form 1040 to figure the taxable part of social security
benefits you must include in gross income. Gross income includes gains, but not
losses, reported on Form 8949 or Schedule D. Gross income from a business means,
for example, the amount on Schedule C, line 7; or Schedule F, line 9. But in figuring
gross income, don’t reduce your income by any losses, including any loss on
Schedule C, line 7; or Schedule F, line 9.
*** If you didn’t live with your spouse at the end of 2025 (or on the date your spouse
died) and your gross income was at least $5, you must file a return regardless of your
age.
Reminders
Future developments. Information about any
future developments affecting Pub. 501 (such
as legislation enacted after we release it) will be
posted at IRS.gov/Pub501.
Taxpayer identification number for aliens. If
you are a nonresident or resident alien and you
don’t have and aren’t eligible to get a social security number (SSN), you must apply for an individual taxpayer identification number (ITIN).
Your spouse may also need an ITIN if your
spouse doesn’t have and isn’t eligible to get an
SSN. See Form W-7, Application for IRS Individual Taxpayer Identification Number. Also see
Social Security Numbers (SSNs) for Dependents, later.
Photographs of missing children. The Internal Revenue Service is a proud partner with the
National Center for Missing & Exploited
Children® (NCMEC). Photographs of missing
children selected by the Center may appear in
this publication on pages that would otherwise
be blank. You can help bring these children
home by looking at the photographs and calling
2
1-800-THE-LOST (1-800-843-5678) if you recognize a child.
Introduction
This publication discusses some tax rules that
affect every person who may have to file a federal income tax return. It answers some basic
questions: who must file, who should file, what
filing status to use, who qualifies as a dependent, and the amount of the standard deduction.
Who Must File explains who must file an income tax return. If you have little or no gross income, reading this section will help you decide
if you have to file a return.
Who Should File helps you decide if you
should file a return, even if you aren’t required to
do so.
Filing Status helps you determine which filing status to use. Filing status is important in
determining whether you must file a return and
whether you may claim certain deductions and
credits. It also helps determine your standard
deduction and tax rate.
Dependents explains the difference between a qualifying child and a qualifying relative. Other topics include the SSN requirement
for dependents, the rules for multiple support
agreements, and the rules for divorced or separated parents.
Standard Deduction gives the rules and dollar amounts for the standard deduction—a benefit for taxpayers who don’t itemize their deductions. This section also discusses the standard
deduction for taxpayers who are blind or age 65
or older, the enhanced deduction for seniors, as
well as special rules that limit the standard deduction available to dependents. In addition,
this section helps you decide whether you
would be better off taking the standard deduction or itemizing your deductions.
How To Get Tax Help explains how to get tax
help from the IRS.
This publication is for U.S. citizens and resident aliens only. If you are a resident alien for
the entire year, you must follow the same tax
rules that apply to U.S. citizens. The rules to determine if you are a resident or nonresident
alien are discussed in chapter 1 of Pub. 519.
Nonresident aliens. If you were a nonresident
alien at any time during the year, the rules and
tax forms that apply to you may be different from
those that apply to U.S. citizens. See Pub. 519.
Comments and suggestions. We welcome
your comments about this publication and suggestions for future editions.
You can send us comments through
IRS.gov/FormComments. Or, you can write to
the Internal Revenue Service, Tax Forms and
Publications, 1111 Constitution Ave. NW,
IR-6526, Washington, DC 20224.
Although we can’t respond individually to
each comment received, we do appreciate your
feedback and will consider your comments and
suggestions as we revise our tax forms, instructions, and publications. Don’t send tax questions, tax returns, or payments to the above address.
Getting answers to your tax questions.
If you have a tax question not answered by this
publication or the How To Get Tax Help section
at the end of this publication, go to the IRS Interactive Tax Assistant page at IRS.gov/
Help/ITA where you can find topics by using the
search feature or viewing the categories listed.
Getting tax forms, instructions, and publications. Go to IRS.gov/Forms to download
current and prior-year forms, instructions, and
publications.
Ordering tax forms, instructions, and
publications. Go to IRS.gov/OrderForms to order current forms, instructions, and publications; call 800-829-3676 to order prior-year
forms and instructions. The IRS will process
your order for forms and publications as soon
as possible. Don’t resubmit requests you’ve already sent us. You can get forms and publications faster online.
Useful Items
You may want to see:
Publication
559 Survivors, Executors, and
Administrators
559
Publication 501 (2025)
Form (and Instructions)
1040-X Amended U.S. Individual Income
Tax Return
1040-X
2848 Power of Attorney and Declaration
of Representative
2848
8332 Release/Revocation of Release of
Claim to Exemption for Child by
Custodial Parent
8332
8814 Parents’ Election To Report Child’s
Interest and Dividends
8814
Who Must File
If you are a U.S. citizen or resident alien,
whether you must file a federal income tax return depends on your gross income, your filing
status, your age, and whether you are a dependent. For details, see Table 1 and Table 2.
You must also file if one of the situations described in Table 3 applies. The filing requirements
apply even if you owe no tax.
You may have to pay a penalty if you are required to file a return but fail to do so. If you willfully fail to file a return, you may be subject to
criminal prosecution.
Gross income. Gross income is all income
you receive in the form of money, goods, property, and services that isn’t exempt from tax. If
you are married and live with your spouse in a
community property state, half of any income
defined by state law as community income may
be considered yours. For a list of community
property states, see Community property states
under Married Filing Separately, later.
Self-employed persons. If you are
self-employed in a business that provides services (where products aren’t a factor), your gross
income from that business is the gross receipts.
If you are self-employed in a business involving
manufacturing, merchandising, or mining, your
gross income from that business is the total
sales minus the cost of goods sold. In either
case, you must add any income from investments and from incidental or outside operations
or sources.
Filing status. Your filing status generally depends on whether you are single or married.
Whether you are single or married is determined at the end of your tax year, which is December 31 for most taxpayers. Filing status is
discussed in detail later in this publication.
Age. Age is a factor in determining if you must
file a return only if you are 65 or older at the end
of your tax year. For 2025, you are 65 or older if
you were born before January 2, 1961.
Filing Requirements for Most
Taxpayers
You must file a return if your gross income for
the year was at least the amount shown on the
appropriate line in Table 1. Dependents should
see Table 2 instead.
Publication 501 (2025)
Deceased Persons
You must file an income tax return for a decedent (a person who died) if both of the following
are true.
1. Your spouse died, or you are the executor,
administrator, or legal representative.
2. The decedent met the filing requirements
described in this publication at the time of
the decedent’s death.
For more information, see Final Income Tax
Return for Decedent—Form 1040 or 1040-SR in
Pub. 559.
Death of spouse. If your spouse died in 2025,
read this before using Table 1 or Table 2 to find
whether you must file a 2025 return. Consider
your spouse to be 65 or older at the end of 2025
only if your spouse was 65 or older at the time
of death. Even if your spouse was born before
January 2, 1961, your spouse isn’t considered
65 or older at the end of 2025 unless your
spouse was 65 or older at the time of death.
A person is considered to reach age 65 on
the day before the person’s 65th birthday.
Example. Your spouse was born on February 14, 1960, and died on February 13, 2025.
Your spouse is considered age 65 at the time of
death. However, if your spouse died on February 12, 2025, your spouse isn’t considered age
65 at the time of death and is not 65 or older at
the end of 2025.
Death of taxpayer. If you are preparing a return for someone who died in 2025, read this
before using Table 1 or Table 2. Consider the
taxpayer to be 65 or older at the end of 2025
only if the taxpayer was 65 or older at the time
of death. Even if the taxpayer was born before
January 2, 1961, the taxpayer isn’t considered
65 or older at the end of 2025 unless the taxpayer was 65 or older at the time of death.
A person is considered to reach age 65 on
the day before the person’s 65th birthday.
U.S. Citizens or Resident Aliens
Living Abroad
To determine whether you must file a return, include in your gross income any income you
earned or received abroad, including any income you can exclude under the foreign earned
income exclusion. For more information on special tax rules that may apply to you, see Pub.
54.
Residents of Puerto Rico
If you are a U.S. citizen and also a bona fide
resident of Puerto Rico, you must generally file
a U.S. income tax return for any year in which
you meet the income requirements. This is in
addition to any legal requirement you may have
to file an income tax return with Puerto Rico.
If you are a bona fide resident of Puerto Rico
for the whole year, your U.S. gross income
doesn’t include income from sources within Puerto Rico. It does, however, include any income
you received for your services as an employee
of the United States or any U.S. agency. If you
receive income from Puerto Rican sources that
isn’t subject to U.S. tax, you must reduce your
standard deduction, which reduces the amount
of income you can have before you must file a
U.S. income tax return.
For more information, see Pub. 570.
Individuals With Income From U.S.
Territories
If you had income from Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa, or the U.S. Virgin Islands, special
rules may apply when determining whether you
must file a U.S. federal income tax return. In addition, you may have to file a return with the individual territory government. See Pub. 570 for
more information.
Dependents
A person who is a dependent may still have to
file a return. It depends on the person’s earned
income, unearned income, and gross income.
For details, see Table 2. A dependent must also
file if one of the situations described in Table 3
applies.
Responsibility of parent. If a dependent child
must file an income tax return but can’t file due
to age or any other reason, a parent, guardian,
or other legally responsible person must file it
for the child. If the child can’t sign the return, the
parent or guardian must sign the child’s name
followed by the words “By (your signature), parent for minor child.”
Earned income. Earned income includes salaries, wages, professional fees, and other
amounts received as pay for work you actually
perform. Earned income (only for purposes of
filing requirements and the standard deduction)
also includes any part of a taxable scholarship.
See chapter 1 of Pub. 970 for more information
on taxable and nontaxable scholarships.
Child’s earnings. Amounts a child earns
by performing services are included in the
child’s gross income and not the gross income
of the parent. This is true even if under local law
the child’s parent has the right to the earnings
and may actually have received them. But if the
child doesn’t pay the tax due on this income,
the parent is liable for the tax.
Unearned income. Unearned income includes
income such as interest, dividends, and capital
gains. Trust distributions of interest, dividends,
capital gains, and survivor annuities are also
considered unearned income.
Election to report child’s unearned income
on parent’s return. You may be able to include your child’s interest and dividend income
on your tax return. If you do this, your child won’t
have to file a return. To make this election, all of
the following conditions must be met.
• Your child was under age 19 (or under age
24 if a student) at the end of 2025. (A child
born on January 1, 2007, is considered to
be age 19 at the end of 2025; you can’t
3
Table 2. 2025 Filing Requirements for Dependents
See Dependents to find out if you are a dependent.
If your parent (or someone else) can claim you as a dependent, use this table to see if you must file a return.
In this table, unearned income includes taxable interest, ordinary dividends, and capital gain distributions. It also includes
unemployment compensation, taxable social security benefits, pensions, annuities, and distributions of unearned income from a
trust. Earned income includes salaries, wages, tips, professional fees, and taxable scholarship and fellowship grants. Gross income
is the total of your unearned and earned income.
!
CAUTION
If your gross income was $5,200 or more, you usually can’t be claimed as a dependent unless you are a qualifying child.
For details, see Dependents.
Single dependents—Were you either age 65 or older or blind?
No. You must file a return if any of the following apply.
1. Your unearned income was more than $1,350.
2. Your earned income was more than $15,750.
3. Your gross income was more than the larger of:
a. $1,350, or
b. Your earned income (up to $15,300) plus $450.
Yes. You must file a return if any of the following apply.
1. Your unearned income was more than $3,350 ($5,350 if 65 or older and blind).
2. Your earned income was more than $17,750 ($19,750 if 65 or older and blind).
3. Your gross income was more than the larger of:
a. $3,350 ($5,350 if 65 or older and blind), or
b. Your earned income (up to $15,300) plus $2,450 ($4,450 if 65 or older and blind).
Married dependents—Were you either age 65 or older or blind?
No. You must file a return if any of the following apply.
1. Your gross income was at least $5 and your spouse files a separate return and itemizes deductions.
2. Your unearned income was more than $1,350.
3. Your earned income was more than $15,750.
4. Your gross income was more than the larger of:
a. $1,350, or
b. Your earned income (up to $15,300) plus $450.
Yes. You must file a return if any of the following apply.
1. Your gross income was at least $5 and your spouse files a separate return and itemizes deductions.
2. Your unearned income was more than $2,950 ($4,550 if 65 or older and blind).
3. Your earned income was more than $17,350 ($18,950 if 65 or older and blind).
4. Your gross income was more than the larger of:
a. $2,950 ($4,550 if 65 or older and blind), or
b. Your earned income (up to $15,300) plus $2,050 ($3,650 if 65 or older and blind).
4
Publication 501 (2025)
Table 3. Other Situations When You Must File a 2025 Return
You must file a return if any of the conditions below apply.
1.
You owe any special taxes reported on Schedule 2 (Form 1040), including any of the following. (See the instructions for
Schedule 2 (Form 1040).)
a.
Alternative minimum tax.
b.
Additional tax on a qualified plan, including an individual retirement arrangement (IRA), or other tax-favored account.
c.
Social security or Medicare tax on tips you didn’t report to your employer or on wages you received from an employer
who didn’t withhold these taxes.
d.
Uncollected social security, Medicare, or railroad retirement tax on tips you reported to your employer or on
group-term life insurance and additional taxes on health savings accounts.
e.
Household employment taxes.
f.
Recapture taxes.
2.
You (or your spouse if filing jointly) received Archer MSA, Medicare Advantage MSA, or health savings account distributions.
3.
You had net earnings from self-employment of at least $400.
4.
You had wages of $108.28 or more from a church or qualified church-controlled organization that is exempt from employer
social security and Medicare taxes.
5.
Advance payments of the premium tax credit were made for you, your spouse, or a dependent who enrolled in coverage
through the Health Insurance Marketplace. You or whoever enrolled you should have received Form(s) 1095-A showing the
amount of the advance payments.
6.
You are required to include amounts in income under section 965 or you have a net tax liability under section 965 that you
are paying in installments under section 965(h) or deferred by making an election under section 965(i).
7.
You purchased a new or used clean vehicle from a registered dealer and reduced the amount you paid at the time of sale by
transferring the credit to the dealer. See Form 8936 and Schedule A (Form 8936).
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
make the election for this child unless the
child was a student. Similarly, a child born
on January 1, 2002, is considered to be
age 24 at the end of 2025; you can’t make
the election for this child.)
Your child had gross income only from interest and dividends (including capital gain
distributions and Alaska Permanent Fund
dividends).
The interest and dividend income was less
than $13,500.
Your child is required to file a return for
2025 unless you make this election.
Your child doesn’t file a joint return for
2025.
No estimated tax payment was made for
2025 and no 2024 overpayment was applied to 2025 under your child’s name and
SSN.
No federal income tax was withheld from
your child’s income under the backup withholding rules.
You are the parent whose return must be
used when making the election to report
your child’s unearned income.
For more information, see Form 8814, Parents’ Election To Report Child’s Interest and
Dividends, and its instructions.
Other Situations
You may have to file a tax return even if your
gross income is less than the amount shown in
Table 1 or Table 2 for your filing status. See Table 3 for those other situations when you must
file.
Even if you don’t have to file, you should file a
tax return if you can get money back. For example, you should file if one of the following applies.
Form 1099-B or Form 1099-DA received.
Even if you aren’t required to file a return, you
should consider filing if all of the following apply.
• You received a Form 1099-B or Form
1099-DA (or substitute statement).
• The amount in box 1d on Form 1099-B or
the amount in box 1f on Form 1099-DA (or
substitute statement), when added to your
other gross income, means you have to file
a tax return because of the filing requirement in Table 1 or Table 2 that applies to
you.
• Box 1e on Form 1099-B or box 1g on Form
1099-DA (or substitute statement) is blank.
1. You had income tax withheld from your
pay.
In this case, filing a return may keep you from
getting a notice from the IRS.
2. You made estimated tax payments for the
year or had any of your overpayment for
last year applied to this year’s estimated
tax.
Filing Status
Who Should File
3. You qualify for the earned income credit.
See Pub. 596 for more information.
4. You qualify for the additional child tax
credit. See Schedule 8812 (Form 1040) for
more information.
5. You qualify for the refundable American
opportunity credit. See Form 8863.
Publication 501 (2025)
6. You qualify for the premium tax credit. See
Form 8962.
You must determine your filing status before you
can determine whether you must file a tax return, your standard deduction (discussed later),
and your tax. You also use your filing status to
determine whether you are eligible to claim certain other deductions and credits.
There are five filing statuses.
• Single.
5
•
•
•
•
Married filing jointly.
Married filing separately.
Head of household.
Qualifying surviving spouse.
If more than one filing status applies to you,
choose the one that will give you the lowest tax.
Marital Status
In general, your filing status depends on
whether you are considered unmarried or married.
Unmarried persons. You are considered unmarried for the whole year if, on the last day of
your tax year, you are either:
• Unmarried, or
• Legally separated from your spouse under
a divorce or separate maintenance decree.
State law governs whether you are married
or legally separated under a divorce or separate
maintenance decree.
Definition of marriage. A marriage of two individuals is recognized for federal tax purposes
if the marriage is recognized by the state or territory of the United States in which the marriage
is entered into, regardless of legal residence.
Two individuals who enter into a relationship
that is denominated as marriage under the laws
of a foreign jurisdiction or an American Indian
tribe are recognized as married for federal tax
purposes if the relationship would be recognized as marriage under the laws of at least one
state or territory of the United States, regardless
of legal residence. Individuals who have entered into a registered domestic partnership,
civil union, or other similar relationship that isn’t
denominated as a marriage under the law of the
state or territory of the United States where
such relationship was entered into aren’t lawfully married for federal tax purposes, regardless of legal residence. See Considered married, later.
Divorced persons. If you are divorced under a final decree by the last day of the year,
you are considered unmarried for the whole
year.
Divorce and remarriage. If you obtain a
divorce for the sole purpose of filing tax returns
as unmarried individuals, and at the time of divorce you intend to and do, in fact, remarry
each other in the next tax year, you and your
spouse must file as married individuals in both
years.
Annulled marriages. If you obtain a court
decree of annulment, which holds that no valid
marriage ever existed, you are considered unmarried even if you filed joint returns for earlier
years. File amended returns (Form(s) 1040-X)
claiming single or head of household status for
all tax years that are affected by the annulment
and not closed by the statute of limitations for
filing a tax return. Generally, for a credit or refund, you must file Form(s) 1040-X within 3
years (including extensions) after the date you
filed your original return or within 2 years after
the date you paid the tax, whichever is later. If
you filed your original tax return early (for example, March 1), your return is considered filed on
the due date (generally April 15). However, if
6
you had an extension to file (for example, until
October 15) but you filed earlier and we received it on July 1, your return is considered
filed on July 1.
Head of household or qualifying surviving spouse. If you are considered unmarried,
you may be able to file as head of household or
as a qualifying surviving spouse. See Head of
Household and Qualifying Surviving Spouse,
later, to see if you qualify.
Married persons. If you are considered married, you and your spouse can file a joint return
or separate returns.
Considered married. You are considered
married for the whole year if, on the last day of
your tax year, you and your spouse meet any
one of the following tests.
1. You are married and living together.
2. You are living together in a common law
marriage recognized in the state where
you now live or in the state where the common law marriage began.
3. You are married and living apart but not legally separated under a decree of divorce
or separate maintenance.
4. You are separated under an interlocutory
(not final) decree of divorce.
Spouse died during the year. If your
spouse died during the year, you are considered married for the whole year for filing status
purposes.
If you didn’t remarry before the end of the
tax year, you can file a joint return for yourself
and your deceased spouse. For the next 2
years, you may be entitled to the special benefits described later under Qualifying Surviving
Spouse.
If you remarried before the end of the tax
year, you can file a joint return with your new
spouse. Your deceased spouse’s filing status is
married filing separately for that year.
Married persons living apart. If you live
apart from your spouse and meet certain tests,
you may be able to file as head of household
even if you aren’t divorced or legally separated.
If you qualify to file as head of household instead of as married filing separately, your standard deduction will be higher and your tax may
be lower. See Head of Household, later.
Single
Your filing status is single if you are considered
unmarried and you don’t qualify for another filing status. To determine your marital status, see
Marital Status, earlier.
Spouse died before January 1, 2025. Your
filing status may be single if your spouse died
before January 1, 2025, and you didn’t remarry
before the end of 2025. You may, however, be
able to use another filing status that will give
you a lower tax. See Head of Household and
Qualifying Surviving Spouse, later, to see if you
qualify.
On Form 1040 or 1040-SR, show your filing
status as single by checking the “Single” box on
the Filing Status line near the top of the form.
Use the Single column of the Tax Table, or Section A of the Tax Computation Worksheet, to figure your tax.
Married Filing Jointly
You can choose married filing jointly as your filing status if you are considered married and
both you and your spouse agree to file a joint return. On a joint return, you and your spouse report your combined income and deduct your
combined allowable expenses. You can file a
joint return even if one of you had no income or
deductions.
If you and your spouse decide to file a joint
return, your tax may be lower than your combined tax for the other filing statuses. Also, your
standard deduction (if you don’t itemize deductions) may be higher, and you may qualify for
tax benefits that don’t apply to other filing statuses.
On Form 1040 or 1040-SR, show your filing
status as married filing jointly by checking the
“Married filing jointly” box on the Filing Status
line near the top of the form. Use the Married filing jointly column of the Tax Table, or Section B
of the Tax Computation Worksheet, to figure
your tax.
If you and your spouse each have in-
TIP come, you may want to figure your tax
both on a joint return and on separate
returns (using the filing status of married filing
separately). You can choose the method that
gives the two of you the lower combined tax unless you are required to file separately.
Spouse died. If your spouse died during the
year, you are considered married for the whole
year and can choose married filing jointly as
your filing status. See Spouse died during the
year under Married persons, earlier.
If your spouse died in 2026 before filing a
2025 return, you can choose married filing
jointly as your filing status on your 2025 return.
Divorced persons. If you are divorced under a
final decree by the last day of the year, you are
considered unmarried for the whole year and
you can’t choose married filing jointly as your filing status.
Filing a Joint Return
Both you and your spouse must include all of
your income and deductions on your joint return.
Accounting period. Both of you must use the
same accounting period, but you can use different accounting methods.
Joint responsibility. Both of you may be held
responsible, jointly and individually, for the tax
and any interest or penalty due on your joint return. This means that if one spouse doesn’t pay
the tax due, the other may have to. Or, if one
spouse doesn’t report the correct tax, both
spouses may be responsible for any additional
taxes assessed by the IRS. One spouse may be
held responsible for all the tax due even if all the
income was earned by the other spouse.
Publication 501 (2025)
You may want to file separately if:
• You believe your spouse isn’t reporting all
of their income, or
• You don’t want to be responsible for any
taxes due if your spouse doesn’t have
enough tax withheld or doesn’t pay enough
estimated tax.
Divorced taxpayer. You may be held jointly
and individually responsible for any tax, interest,
and penalties due on a joint return filed before
your divorce. This responsibility may apply even
if your divorce decree states that your former
spouse will be responsible for any amounts due
on previously filed joint returns.
Relief from joint responsibility. In some
cases, one spouse may be relieved of joint responsibility for tax, interest, and penalties on a
joint return for items of the other spouse that
were incorrectly reported on the joint return. You
can ask for relief no matter how small the liability.
There are three types of relief available.
1. Innocent spouse relief.
2. Separation of liability (available only to
joint filers whose spouse has died, or who
are divorced, who are legally separated, or
who haven’t lived together for the 12
months ending on the date the election for
this relief is filed).
3. Equitable relief.
You must file Form 8857, Request for Innocent Spouse Relief, to request relief from joint
responsibility. Pub. 971 explains the kinds of relief and who may qualify for them.
Signing a joint return. For a return to be considered a joint return, both spouses must generally sign the return.
Spouse died before signing. If your
spouse died before signing the return, the executor or administrator must sign the return for
your spouse. If neither you nor anyone else has
been appointed as executor or administrator,
you can sign the return for your spouse. Check
the “Deceased” box at the top of page 1 of Form
1040 or 1040-SR and enter the date your
spouse died in the entry spaces after “Spouse.”
Enter “Filing as surviving spouse” in the area
where you sign the return.
Spouse away from home. If your spouse
is away from home, you should prepare the return, sign it, and send it to your spouse to sign
so it can be filed on time.
Injury or disease prevents signing. If
your spouse can’t sign because of injury or disease and tells you to sign for them, you can sign
your spouse’s name in the proper space on the
return followed by the words “By (your name),
Spouse.” Be sure to sign in the space provided
for your signature. Attach a dated statement,
signed by you, to the return. The statement
should include the form number of the return
you are filing, the tax year, and the reason your
spouse can’t sign, and it should state that your
spouse has agreed to your signing for them.
Publication 501 (2025)
Signing as guardian of spouse. If you are
the guardian of your spouse who is mentally incompetent, you can sign the return for your
spouse as guardian.
Spouse in combat zone. You can sign a
joint return for your spouse if your spouse can’t
sign because they are serving in a combat zone
(such as the Persian Gulf area, Serbia, Montenegro, Albania, or Afghanistan), even if you
don’t have a power of attorney or other statement. Attach a signed statement to your return
explaining that your spouse is serving in a combat zone. For more information on special tax
rules for persons who are serving in a combat
zone, or who are in missing status as a result of
serving in a combat zone, see Pub. 3.
Power of attorney (POA). In order for you
to sign a return for your spouse in any of these
cases, you must attach to the return a POA that
authorizes you to sign for your spouse. You can
use a POA that states that you have been granted authority to sign the return, or you can use
Form 2848. Part I of Form 2848 must state that
you are granted authority to sign the return.
Nonresident alien or dual-status alien. Generally, a married couple can’t file a joint return if
either spouse is a nonresident alien at any time
during the year. However, you and your spouse
can choose to be treated as U.S. residents for
the entire year and file a joint return if one
spouse was a nonresident alien at the end of
the taxable year (the nonresident spouse) and
the other was a U.S. citizen or resident at the
end of the taxable year. This choice remains in
effect in subsequent years until terminated. You
and your spouse can also choose to file as U.S.
residents for the entire year if both of you are
U.S. citizens or residents at the end of the year
and either (or both) of you were a nonresident at
the beginning of the year (the dual-status
spouse(s)). You can only make this choice for 1
year, and it doesn’t apply to any future years.
If you and your spouse are making either of
these choices to be treated as U.S. residents for
2025, check the box in the Filing Status section
and enter the name of the nonresident spouse
or dual-status spouse(s) (whichever applies to
you) in the entry space. Also check the box and
enter their name if you and your nonresident
spouse made the choice to be treated as residents in a prior year and the choice remains in
effect. See the Instructions for Form 1040 and
Pub. 519 for more information on how to make
this choice.
Married Filing Separately
You can choose married filing separately as
your filing status if you are married. This filing
status may benefit you if you want to be responsible only for your own tax or if it results in less
tax than filing a joint return.
If you and your spouse don’t agree to file a
joint return, you must use this filing status unless you qualify for head of household status,
discussed later.
You may be able to choose head of household filing status if you are considered unmarried because you live apart from your spouse
and meet certain tests (explained later under
Head of Household). This can apply to you
even if you aren’t divorced or legally separated.
If you qualify to file as head of household, instead of as married filing separately, your tax
may be lower, you may be able to claim certain
tax benefits, and your standard deduction will
be higher. The head of household filing status
allows you to choose the standard deduction
even if your spouse chooses to itemize deductions. See Head of Household, later, for more
information.
You will generally pay more combined
TIP tax on separate returns than you would
on a joint return for the reasons listed
under Special Rules, later. However, unless you
are required to file separately, you should figure
your tax both ways (on a joint return and on separate returns). This way, you can make sure you
are using the filing status that results in the lowest combined tax. When figuring the combined
tax of a married couple, you may want to consider state taxes as well as federal taxes.
How to file. If you file a separate return, you
generally report only your own income, credits,
and deductions.
Select this filing status by checking the
“Married filing separately” box on the Filing Status line near the top of Form 1040 or 1040-SR.
Enter your spouse’s full name in the entry space
below the filing status checkbox. Be sure to enter your spouse’s SSN or ITIN in the space for
spouse’s SSN on Form 1040 or 1040-SR. If
your spouse doesn’t have and isn’t required to
have an SSN or ITIN, enter “NRA” in the entry
space below the filing status checkboxes. For
electronic filing, enter the spouse’s name or
“NRA” if the spouse doesn’t have an SSN or
ITIN in the entry space below the filing status
checkboxes. Use the Married filing separately
column of the Tax Table, or Section C of the Tax
Computation Worksheet, to figure your tax.
Special Rules
If you choose married filing separately as your
filing status, the following special rules apply.
Because of these special rules, you usually pay
more tax on a separate return than if you use
another filing status you qualify for.
1. Your tax rate is generally higher than on a
joint return.
2. Your exemption amount for figuring the alternative minimum tax is half that allowed
on a joint return.
3. You can’t take the credit for child and dependent care expenses in most cases,
and the amount you can exclude from income under an employer’s dependent
care assistance program is limited to
$2,500 (instead of $5,000 on a joint return). However, if you are legally separated
or living apart from your spouse, you may
be able to file a separate return and still
take the credit. See What’s Your Filing Status? in Pub. 503 for more information.
4. You can’t take the earned income credit
unless you have a qualifying child and
meet certain other requirements.
7
5. You can’t take the exclusion or credit for
adoption expenses in most cases.
6. You can’t take the education credits (the
American opportunity credit and lifetime
learning credit), or the deduction for student loan interest.
7. You can’t exclude any interest income from
qualified U.S. savings bonds you used for
higher education expenses.
8. If you lived with your spouse at any time
during the tax year:
a. You can’t claim the credit for the elderly or the disabled, and
b. You must include in income a greater
percentage (up to 85%) of any social
security or equivalent railroad retirement benefits you received.
9. The following credits and deductions are
reduced at income levels half those for a
joint return.
a. The child tax credit and the credit for
other dependents.
b. The retirement savings contributions
credit.
10. Your capital loss deduction limit is $1,500
(instead of $3,000 on a joint return).
11. If your spouse itemizes deductions, you
can’t claim the standard deduction. If you
can claim the standard deduction, your basic standard deduction is half the amount
allowed on a joint return.
There are special rules that allow a
TIP separated spouse to claim the earned
income credit under certain circumstances. See line 27a instructions in the Instructions for Form 1040 and Schedule EIC (Form
1040) to see if you meet the qualifications to
claim the earned income credit even though you
are married and don’t file a joint return.
Adjusted gross income (AGI) limits. If your
AGI on a separate return is lower than it would
have been on a joint return, you may be able to
deduct a larger amount for certain deductions
that are limited by AGI, such as medical expenses.
Individual retirement arrangements (IRAs).
You may not be able to deduct all or part of your
contributions to a traditional IRA if you or your
spouse was covered by an employee retirement
plan at work during the year. Your deduction is
reduced or eliminated if your income is more
than a certain amount. This amount is much
lower for married individuals who file separately
and lived together at any time during the year.
For more information, see How Much Can You
Deduct? in chapter 1 of Pub. 590-A.
Rental activity losses. If you actively participated in a passive rental real estate activity that
produced a loss, you can generally deduct the
loss from your nonpassive income up to
$25,000. This is called a special allowance.
However, married persons filing separate returns who lived together at any time during the
year can’t claim this special allowance. Married
persons filing separate returns who lived apart
8
at all times during the year are each allowed a
$12,500 maximum special allowance for losses
from passive real estate activities. See Rental
Activities in Pub. 925.
Community property states. Community
property states include Arizona, California,
Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas,
Washington, and Wisconsin. If you live in a
community property state and file separately,
your income may be considered separate income or community income for income tax purposes. See Pub. 555.
Joint Return After Separate
Returns
You can change your filing status from a separate return to a joint return by filing an amended
return using Form 1040-X.
You can generally change to a joint return
any time within 3 years from the due date of the
separate return or returns. This doesn’t include
any extensions. A separate return includes a return filed by you or your spouse claiming married filing separately, single, or head of household filing status.
Separate Returns After Joint
Return
Once you file a joint return, you can’t choose to
file separate returns for that year after the due
date of the return.
Exception. A personal representative for a decedent can change from a joint return elected
by the surviving spouse to a separate return for
the decedent. The personal representative has
1 year from the due date (including extensions)
of the return to make the change. See Pub. 559
for more information on filing income tax returns
for a decedent.
Head of Household
You may be able to file as head of household if
you meet all the following requirements.
1. You are unmarried or considered unmarried on the last day of the year. See Marital
Status, earlier, and Considered Unmarried, later.
2. You paid more than half the cost of keeping up a home for the year.
3. A qualifying person lived with you in the
home for more than half the year (except
for temporary absences, such as school).
However, if the qualifying person is your
dependent parent, your dependent parent
doesn’t have to live with you. See Special
rule for parent, later, under Qualifying Person.
If you qualify to file as head of houseTIP hold, your tax rate will usually be lower
than the rates for single or married filing separately. You will also receive a higher
standard deduction than if you file as single or
married filing separately.
How to file. Select this filing status by checking the “Head of household” box on the Filing
Status line near the top of Form 1040 or
1040-SR. If the child who qualifies you for this
filing status isn’t claimed as your dependent in
the Dependents section of Form 1040 or
1040-SR, enter the child’s name in the entry
space below the filing status checkboxes. Use
the Head of a household column of the Tax Table, or Section D of the Tax Computation Worksheet, to figure your tax.
Considered Unmarried
To qualify for head of household status, you
must be either unmarried or considered unmarried on the last day of the year. You are considered unmarried on the last day of the tax year if
you meet all the following tests.
1. You file a separate return. A separate return includes a return claiming married filing separately, single, or head of household filing status.
2. You paid more than half the cost of keeping up your home for the tax year.
3. Your spouse didn’t live in your home during the last 6 months of the tax year. Your
spouse is considered to live in your home
even if your spouse is temporarily absent
due to special circumstances. See Temporary absences, later.
4. Your home was the main home of your
child, stepchild, or foster child for more
than half the year. (See Home of qualifying
person, later, for rules applying to a child’s
birth, death, or temporary absence during
the year.)
5. You must be able to claim the child as a
dependent. However, you meet this test if
you can’t claim the child as a dependent
only because the noncustodial parent can
claim the child using the rules described
later in Children of divorced or separated
parents (or parents who live apart) under
Qualifying Child or in Support Test for Children of Divorced or Separated Parents (or
Parents Who Live Apart) under Qualifying
Relative. The general rules for claiming a
child as a dependent are explained later
under Dependents.
You may be considered unmarried for the
purpose of using head of household status but
not for other purposes, such as claiming the
EIC. Different tests apply depending on the tax
benefit you claim.
If you were considered married for part
of the year and lived in a community
CAUTION property state (listed earlier under Married Filing Separately), special rules may apply
in determining your income and expenses. See
Pub. 555 for more information.
!
Nonresident alien spouse. You are considered unmarried for head of household purposes
if your spouse was a nonresident alien at any
time during the year and you don’t choose to
treat your nonresident spouse as a resident
alien. However, your spouse isn’t a qualifying
person for head of household purposes. You
must have another qualifying person and meet
Publication 501 (2025)
the other tests to be eligible to file as head of
household.
Choice to treat spouse as resident. You
are considered married if you choose to treat
your spouse as a resident alien. See chapter 1
of Pub. 519.
Amount You
Paid
Keeping Up a Home
Property taxes
To qualify for head of household status, you
must pay more than half of the cost of keeping
up a home for the year. You can determine
whether you paid more than half of the cost of
keeping up a home by using Worksheet 1.
Rent
Costs you include. Include in the cost of
keeping up a home expenses such as rent,
mortgage interest, real estate taxes, insurance
on the home, repairs, utilities, and food eaten in
the home.
Costs you don’t include. Don’t include the
cost of clothing, education, medical treatment,
vacations, life insurance, or transportation. Also
don’t include the value of your services or those
of a member of your household.
Keep for Your Records
Worksheet 1. Cost of Keeping Up a Home
..............................
Total
Cost
$
$
$
$
Mortgage interest expense . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
.....................................
Utility charges
..............................
Repairs/maintenance
.........................
Property insurance
...........................
Food eaten in the home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Other household expenses
.....................
Totals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Minus total amount you paid
...................
Amount others paid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
(
)
$
Qualifying Person
Note. TANF and other governmental payments. Under proposed Treasury regulations, if you received Temporary
Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) payments or other similar payments and used the payment to support
another person, those payments are considered support you provided for that person, rather than support provided
by the government or other third party. Amounts paid out of funds received in the child’s or qualifying person’s
name, such as Social Security, are considered paid by the child, not you. If the total amount you paid is more than
the amount others paid, you meet the requirement of paying more than half the cost of keeping up the home.
See Table 4 to see who is a qualifying person.
Any person not described in Table 4 isn’t a qualifying person.
relative (see Not a Qualifying Child Test, later).
As a result, your friend’s child isn’t your qualifying person for head of household purposes.
Example 1—child. Your unmarried child
lived with you all year and was 18 years old at
the end of the year. Your child didn’t provide
more than half of their own support and doesn’t
meet the tests to be a qualifying child of anyone
else. As a result, this child is your qualifying
child (see Qualifying Child, later) and, because
this child is single, this is your qualifying person
for head of household purposes.
Home of qualifying person. Generally, the
qualifying person must live with you for more
than half of the year.
Example 2—child who isn’t qualifying
person. The facts are the same as in Example 1, except your child was 25 years old at the
end of the year and your child’s gross income
was $6,000. Because your child doesn’t meet
the age test (explained later under Qualifying
Child), your child isn’t your qualifying child. Because the child doesn’t meet the gross income
test (explained later under Qualifying Relative),
the child isn’t your qualifying relative. As a result, this child isn’t your qualifying person for
head of household purposes.
Example 3—your friend. Your friend lived
with you all year. Even though your friend may
be your qualifying relative if the gross income
and support tests (explained later) are met, your
friend isn’t your qualifying person for head of
household purposes because your friend isn’t
related to you in one of the ways listed under
Relatives who don’t have to live with you, later.
See Table 4.
Example 4—friend’s child. The facts are
the same as in Example 3, except your friend’s
10-year-old child also lived with you all year.
Your friend’s child isn’t your qualifying child and,
because the child is your friend’s qualifying
child, your friend’s child isn’t your qualifying
Publication 501 (2025)
Special rule for parent. If your qualifying
person is your parent, you may be eligible to file
as head of household even if your parent
doesn’t live with you. However, you must be
able to claim your parent as a dependent. Also,
you must pay more than half the cost of keeping
up a home that was the main home for the entire year for your parent.
If you pay more than half the cost of keeping
your parent in a rest home or home for the elderly, that counts as paying more than half the
cost of keeping up your parent’s main home.
Death or birth. You may be eligible to file
as head of household even if the qualifying person who qualifies you for this filing status is born
or dies during the year. To qualify you for head
of household filing status, the qualifying person
(as defined in Table 4) must be one of the following.
• Your qualifying child or qualifying relative
who lived with you for more than half the
part of the year they were alive.
• Your parent for whom you paid, for the entire part of the year your parent was alive,
more than half the cost of keeping up the
home your parent lived in.
Example. You are unmarried. Your parent,
who you claim as a dependent, lived in an
apartment alone. Your parent died on September 2. The cost of the upkeep of the apartment
for the year until your parent’s death was
$6,000. You paid $4,000 and your sibling paid
$2,000. Your sibling made no other payments
toward your parent’s support. Your parent had
no income. Because you paid more than half of
the cost of keeping up your parent’s apartment
from January 1 until your parent’s death, and
you can claim your parent as a dependent, you
can file as head of household.
Temporary absences. You and your qualifying person are considered to live together
even if one or both of you are temporarily absent from your home due to special circumstances such as illness, education, business, vacation, military service, or detention in a juvenile
facility. It must be reasonable to assume the absent person will return to the home after the
temporary absence. You must continue to keep
up the home during the absence.
Adopted child or foster child. You may
be eligible to file as head of household if the
person who qualifies you for this filing status
was an adopted child or foster child and you
kept up a home for this person in 2025, the person was lawfully placed with you for legal adoption by you in 2025, or the person was an eligible foster child placed with you during 2025.
The person is considered to have lived with you
for more than half of 2025 if your main home
was this person’s main home for more than half
the time since the child was adopted or placed
with you in 2025.
Kidnapped child. You may be eligible to
file as head of household even if the child who
is your qualifying person has been kidnapped.
You can claim head of household filing status if
all the following statements are true.
1. The child is presumed by law enforcement
authorities to have been kidnapped by
someone who isn’t a member of your family or the child’s family.
9
Table 4. Who Is a Qualifying Person Qualifying You To File as Head of Household?1
!
See the text of this publication for the other requirements you must meet to claim head of household filing status.
CAUTION
IF the person is your . . .
AND . . .
THEN that person is . . .
qualifying child (such as a son, daughter,
or grandchild who lived with you more than
half the year and meets certain other tests)2
the child is single
a qualifying person, whether or not
the child meets the citizen or
resident test.
the child is married and you can claim the
child as a dependent
a qualifying person.
the child is married and you can’t claim the
child as a dependent
not a qualifying person.3
qualifying relative4 who is your father or
mother
you can claim your parent as a dependent5
a qualifying person.6
you can’t claim your parent as a dependent
not a qualifying person.
qualifying relative other than your father or
mother (such as a grandparent, brother, or
sister who meets certain tests)
your relative lived with you more than half
the year, and your relative is related to you
in one of the ways listed under Relatives
who don’t have to live with you, later, and
you can claim your relative as a dependent5
a qualifying person.
your relative didn’t live with you more than
half the year
not a qualifying person.
your relative isn’t related to you in one of the
ways listed under Relatives who don’t have
to live with you, later, and is your qualifying
relative only because your relative lived with
you all year as a member of your household
not a qualifying person.
you can’t claim your relative as a dependent
not a qualifying person.
4
1
A person can’t qualify more than one taxpayer to use the head of household filing status for the year.
The term “qualifying child” is defined under Dependents, later. Note: If you are a noncustodial parent, the term “qualifying child” for head of
household filing status doesn’t include a child who is your qualifying child only because of the rules described under Children of divorced or
separated parents (or parents who live apart) under Qualifying Child, later. If you are the custodial parent and those rules apply, the child is
generally your qualifying child for head of household filing status even though the child isn’t a qualifying child you can claim as a dependent.
2
This person is a qualifying person if the only reason you can’t claim the person as a dependent is that you can be claimed as a dependent on
another taxpayer’s return.
3
4
The term “qualifying relative” is defined under Dependents, later.
If you can claim a person as a dependent only because of a multiple support agreement, that person isn’t a qualifying person. See Multiple
Support Agreement, later.
5
6
See Special rule for parent, earlier.
2. In the year of the kidnapping, the child
lived with you for more than half the part of
the year before the kidnapping.
3. In the year of the child’s return, the child
lived with you for more than half the part of
the year following the date of the child’s return.
4. You would have qualified for head of
household filing status if the child hadn’t
been kidnapped.
This treatment applies for all years until the
earlier of:
1. The year there is a determination that the
child is dead, or
2. The year the child would have reached
age 18.
10
Qualifying Surviving Spouse
If your spouse died in 2025, you can use married filing jointly as your filing status for 2025 if
you otherwise qualify to use that status. The
year of death is the last year for which you can
file jointly with your deceased spouse. See Married Filing Jointly, earlier.
You may be eligible to use qualifying surviving spouse as your filing status for 2 years following the year your spouse died. For example,
if your spouse died in 2024 and you haven’t remarried, you may be able to use this filing status
for 2025 and 2026. The rules for using this filing
status are explained in detail here.
This filing status entitles you to use joint return tax rates and the highest standard deduction amount (if you don’t itemize deductions). It
doesn’t entitle you to file a joint return.
How to file. Select this filing status by checking the “Qualifying surviving spouse” box on the
Filing Status line near the top of Form 1040 or
1040-SR. If the child who qualifies you for this
filing status isn’t claimed as your dependent in
the Dependents section of Form 1040 or
1040-SR, enter the child’s name in the entry
space below the filing status checkboxes. Use
the Married filing jointly column of the Tax Table,
or Section B of the Tax Computation Worksheet, to figure your tax.
Eligibility rules. You are eligible to file your
2025 return as a qualifying surviving spouse if
you meet all the following tests.
1. You were entitled to file a joint return with
your spouse for the year your spouse died.
It doesn’t matter whether you actually filed
a joint return.
Publication 501 (2025)
2. Your spouse died in 2023 or 2024 and you
didn’t remarry before the end of 2025.
3. You have a child or stepchild (not a foster
child) whom you can claim as a dependent
or could claim as a dependent except that,
for 2025:
a. The child had gross income of $5,200
or more,
b. The child filed a joint return, or
c. You could be claimed as a dependent
on someone else’s return.
If the child isn’t claimed as your dependent in the Dependents section on
Form 1040 or 1040-SR, enter the child’s
name in the entry space below the filing
status checkboxes. If you don’t enter the
name, it will take us longer to process your
return.
2. In the year of the kidnapping, the child
lived with you for more than half the part of
the year before the kidnapping.
3. In the year of the child’s return, the child
lived with you for more than half the part of
the year following the date of the child’s return.
4. You would have qualified for qualifying surviving spouse filing status if the child had
not been kidnapped.
As mentioned earlier, the filing status
qualifying surviving spouse is available
CAUTION for only 2 years following the year your
spouse died.
!
Dependents
The term “dependent” means:
• A qualifying child, or
• A qualifying relative.
4. This child lived in your home all year, except for temporary absences. See Temporary absences, earlier, under Head of
Household. There are also exceptions, described later, for a child who was born or
died during the year and for a kidnapped
child.
The terms “qualifying child” and “qualifying relative” are defined later.
5. You paid more than half the cost of keeping up a home for the year. See Keeping
Up a Home, earlier, under Head of Household.
Housekeepers, maids, or servants. If these
people work for you, you can’t claim them as
dependents.
Example. Your spouse died in 2023 and
you haven’t remarried. During 2024 and 2025,
you continued to keep up a home for you and
your child who lives with you and whom you can
claim as a dependent. For 2023, you were entitled to file a joint return for you and your deceased spouse. For 2024 and 2025, you can file
as a qualifying surviving spouse. After 2025,
you can file as head of household if you qualify.
Death or birth. You may be eligible to file as a
qualifying surviving spouse if the child who
qualifies you for this filing status is born or dies
during the year. You must have provided more
than half of the cost of keeping up a home that
was the child’s main home during the entire part
of the year the child was alive.
Adopted child. You may be eligible to file as a
qualifying surviving spouse if the child who
qualifies you for this filing status was adopted
by you in 2025 or was lawfully placed with you
for legal adoption by you in 2025. The child is
considered to have lived with you for all of 2025
if your main home was this child’s main home
for the entire time since this child was adopted
or placed with you in 2025.
Kidnapped child. You may be eligible to file as
a qualifying surviving spouse even if the child
who qualifies you for this filing status has been
kidnapped. You can claim qualifying surviving
spouse filing status if all the following statements are true.
1. The child is presumed by law enforcement
authorities to have been kidnapped by
someone who isn’t a member of your family or the child’s family.
All the requirements for claiming a dependent are summarized in Table 5.
Child tax credit. You may be entitled to a child
tax credit for each qualifying child who was under age 17 at the end of the year if you claimed
that child as a dependent. For more information,
see the Instructions for Form 1040.
Credit for other dependents. You may be entitled to a credit for other dependents for each
qualifying child who does not qualify you for the
child tax credit and for each qualifying relative.
For more information, see the Instructions for
Form 1040.
Exceptions
Even if you have a qualifying child or qualifying
relative, you can claim that person as a dependent only if these three tests are met.
1. Dependent taxpayer test.
2. Joint return test.
3. Citizen or resident test.
These three tests are explained in detail here.
Dependent Taxpayer Test
If you can be claimed as a dependent by another taxpayer, you can’t claim anyone else as a
dependent. Even if you have a qualifying child
or qualifying relative, you can’t claim that person
as a dependent.
If you are filing a joint return and your
spouse can be claimed as a dependent by another taxpayer, you and your spouse can’t claim
any dependents on your joint return.
one else as a dependent if the person who can
claim you (or your spouse if filing a joint return)
as a dependent files a return only to claim a refund of income tax withheld or estimated tax
paid.
Joint Return Test
You generally can’t claim a married person as a
dependent if that person files a joint return.
Exception. You can claim a person as a dependent who files a joint return if that person
and that person’s spouse file the joint return
only to claim a refund of income tax withheld or
estimated tax paid.
Example 1—child files joint return. You
supported your 18-year-old child who lived with
you all year while your child’s spouse was in the
Armed Forces. Your child’s spouse earned
$35,000 for the year. The couple files a joint return. You can’t claim your child as a dependent.
Example 2—child files joint return only
as claim for refund of withheld tax. Your
18-year-old child and your child’s 17-year-old
spouse had $800 of wages from part-time jobs
and no other income. They lived with you all
year. Neither is required to file a tax return. They
don’t have a child. Taxes were taken out of their
pay, so they file a joint return only to get a refund
of the withheld taxes. The exception to the joint
return test applies, so you aren’t disqualified
from claiming each of them as a dependent just
because they file a joint return. You can claim
each of them as dependents if all the other tests
to do so are met.
Example 3—child files joint return to
claim American opportunity credit. The
facts are the same as in Example 2, except no
taxes were taken out of your child’s pay or your
child’s spouse’s pay. However, they file a joint
return to claim an American opportunity credit
of $124 and get a refund of that amount. Because they filed a joint return claiming the
American opportunity credit, they aren’t filing it
only to get a refund of income tax withheld or
estimated tax paid. The exception to the joint return test doesn’t apply, so you can’t claim either
of them as a dependent.
Citizen or Resident Test
You generally can’t claim a person as a dependent unless that person is a U.S. citizen, a U.S.
resident alien, a U.S. national, or a resident of
Canada or Mexico. However, there is an exception for certain adopted children, as explained
next.
Exception for adopted child. If you are a U.S.
citizen or U.S. national who has legally adopted
a child who isn’t a U.S. citizen, U.S. resident
alien, or U.S. national, this test is met if the child
lived with you as a member of your household
all year. This exception also applies if the child
was lawfully placed with you for legal adoption
and the child lived with you for the rest of the
year after placement.
Exception. If you can be claimed as a dependent by another taxpayer, you can claim somePublication 501 (2025)
11
Table 5. Overview of the Rules for Claiming a Dependent
!
This table is only an overview of the rules. For details, see the rest of this publication.
CAUTION
• You can’t claim any dependents if you, or your spouse if filing jointly, could be claimed as a dependent by another taxpayer,
unless that taxpayer files a return only to claim a refund of withheld income tax or estimated tax paid.
• You can’t claim a married person who files a joint return as a dependent unless that joint return is filed only to claim a refund of
withheld income tax or estimated tax paid.
• You can’t claim a person as a dependent unless that person is a U.S. citizen, a U.S. resident alien, a U.S. national, or a resident
of Canada or Mexico.1
• You can’t claim a person as a dependent unless that person is your qualifying child or qualifying relative.
Tests To Be a Qualifying Child
1. The child must be your son, daughter, stepchild, foster child, brother,
sister, half brother, half sister, stepbrother, or stepsister, or a descendant
of any of them.
2. The child must be (a) under age 19 at the end of the year and younger
than you (or your spouse if filing jointly); (b) under age 24 at the end of the
year, a student, and younger than you (or your spouse if filing jointly); or
(c) any age if permanently and totally disabled.
Tests To Be a Qualifying Relative
1. The person can’t be your qualifying child or the qualifying
child of any other taxpayer.
2. The person either (a) must be related to you in one of the
ways listed under Relatives who don’t have to live with you, or
(b) must live with you all year as a member of your
household2 (and your relationship must not violate local law).
3. The child must have lived with you for more than half of the year.2
3. The person’s gross income for the year must be less than
$5,200.3
4. The child must not have provided more than half of the child’s own support
for the year.
4. You must provide more than half of the person’s total support
for the year.4
5. The child must not be filing a joint return for the year (unless that joint
return is filed only to claim a refund of withheld income tax or estimated
tax paid).
If the child meets the rules to be a qualifying child of more than one
person, generally only one person can actually treat the child as a
qualifying child. See Qualifying Child of More Than One Person, later,
to find out which person is the person entitled to claim the child as a
qualifying child.
1
There is an exception for certain adopted children.
There are exceptions for temporary absences, children who were born or died during the year, children who were adopted or lawfully placed for
adoption during the year, children who are eligible foster children placed during the year, children of divorced or separated parents (or parents who
live apart), and kidnapped children.
2
3
There is an exception if the person is disabled and has income from a sheltered workshop.
There are exceptions for multiple support agreements, children of divorced or separated parents (or parents who live apart), and kidnapped
children.
4
Child’s place of residence. Children are usually citizens or residents of the country of their
parents.
If you were a U.S. citizen when your child
was born, the child may be a U.S. citizen and
meet this test even if the other parent was a
nonresident alien and the child was born in a
foreign country.
Foreign students’ place of residence. Foreign students brought to this country under a
qualified international education exchange program and placed in American homes for a temporary period generally aren’t U.S. residents
and don’t meet this test. You can’t claim them
as dependents. However, if you provided a
home for a foreign student, you may be able to
12
take a charitable contribution deduction. See
Expenses Paid for Student Living With You in
Pub. 526.
U.S. national. A U.S. national is an individual
who, although not a U.S. citizen, owes allegiance to the United States. U.S. nationals include American Samoans and Northern Mariana Islanders who chose to become U.S.
nationals instead of U.S. citizens.
Qualifying Child
Five tests must be met for a child to be your
qualifying child. The five tests are:
2. Age,
3. Residency,
4. Support, and
5. Joint return.
These tests are explained next.
If a child meets the five tests to be the
qualifying child of more than one perCAUTION son, there are rules you must use to
determine which person can actually treat the
child as a qualifying child. See Qualifying Child
of More Than One Person, later.
!
1. Relationship,
Publication 501 (2025)
Relationship Test
To meet this test, a child must be:
• Your son, daughter, stepchild, or foster
child, or a descendant (for example, your
grandchild) of any of them; or
• Your brother, sister, half brother, half sister,
stepbrother, or stepsister, or a descendant
(for example, your niece or nephew) of any
of them.
Adopted child. An adopted child is always
treated as your own child. The term “adopted
child” includes a child who was lawfully placed
with you for legal adoption.
Foster child. A foster child is an individual who
is placed with you by an authorized placement
agency or by judgment, decree, or other order
of any court of competent jurisdiction.
Age Test
To meet this test, a child must be:
• Under age 19 at the end of the year and
younger than you (or your spouse if filing
jointly);
• A student under age 24 at the end of the
year and younger than you (or your spouse
if filing jointly); or
• Permanently and totally disabled at any
time during the year, regardless of age.
Example. Your child turned 19 on December 10. Unless this child was permanently and
totally disabled or a student, this child doesn’t
meet the age test because, at the end of the
year, this child wasn’t under age 19.
Child must be younger than you or your
spouse. To be your qualifying child, a child
who isn’t permanently and totally disabled must
be younger than you. However, if you are married filing jointly, the child must be younger than
you or your spouse but doesn’t have to be
younger than both of you.
Example 1—child not younger than you
or your spouse. Your 23-year-old sibling, who
is a student and unmarried, lives with you and
your spouse, who provide more than half of your
sibling’s support. Your sibling isn’t disabled.
Both you and your spouse are 21 years old, and
you file a joint return. Your sibling isn’t your qualifying child because your sibling isn’t younger
than you or your spouse.
Example 2—child younger than your
spouse but not younger than you. The facts
are the same as in Example 1, except your
spouse is 25 years old. Because your sibling is
younger than your spouse and you and your
spouse are filing a joint return, your sibling is
your qualifying child, even though your sibling
isn’t younger than you.
Student defined. To qualify as a student, your
child must be, during some part of each of any 5
calendar months of the year:
1. A full-time student at a school that has a
regular teaching staff and course of study,
and a regularly enrolled student body at
the school; or
Publication 501 (2025)
2. A student taking a full-time, on-farm training course given by a school described in
(1), or by a state, county, or local government agency.
The 5 calendar months don’t have to be consecutive.
Full-time student. A full-time student is a
student who is enrolled for the number of hours
or courses the school considers to be full-time
attendance.
School defined. A school can be an elementary school, a junior or senior high school, a
college, a university, or a technical, trade, or
mechanical school. However, an on-the-job
training course, correspondence school, or
school offering courses only through the Internet doesn’t count as a school.
Vocational high school students. Students who work on “co-op” jobs in private industry as a part of a school’s regular course of
classroom and practical training are considered
full-time students.
Permanently and totally disabled. Your child
is permanently and totally disabled if both of the
following apply.
• Your child can’t engage in any substantial
gainful activity because of a physical or
mental condition.
• A doctor determines the condition has lasted or can be expected to last continuously
for at least a year or can lead to death.
Stillborn child. You can’t claim a stillborn
child as a dependent.
Adopted child or foster child. You can treat
your adopted child or foster child as meeting the
residency test, as follows, if you adopted the
child in 2025, the child was lawfully placed with
you for legal adoption by you in 2025, or the
child was an eligible foster child placed with you
during 2025. This child is considered to have
lived with you for more than half of 2025 if your
main home was this child’s main home for more
than half the time since this child was adopted
or placed with you in 2025.
Kidnapped child. You can treat your child as
meeting the residency test even if the child has
been kidnapped, but the following statements
must be true.
1. The child is presumed by law enforcement
authorities to have been kidnapped by
someone who isn’t a member of your family or the child’s family.
2. In the year the kidnapping occurred, the
child lived with you for more than half of
the part of the year before the date of the
kidnapping.
3. In the year of the child’s return, the child
lived with you for more than half the part of
the year following the date of the child’s return.
This treatment applies for all years until the
earlier of:
Residency Test
1. The year there is a determination that the
child is dead, or
To meet this test, your child must have lived with
you for more than half the year. There are exceptions for temporary absences, children who
were born or died during the year, adopted or
foster children, kidnapped children, and children of divorced or separated parents.
2. The year the child would have reached
age 18.
Temporary absences. Your child is considered to have lived with you during periods of
time when one of you, or both, is temporarily
absent due to special circumstances, such as:
• Illness,
• Education,
• Business,
• Vacation,
• Military service, or
• Detention in a juvenile facility.
Death or birth of child. A child who was born
or died during the year is treated as having lived
with you more than half the year if your home
was the child’s home more than half the time
the child was alive during the year. The same is
true if the child lived with you more than half the
year except for any required hospital stay following birth.
Child born alive. You may be able to claim
as a dependent a child born alive during the
year, even if the child lived only for a moment.
State or local law must treat the child as having
been born alive. There must be proof of a live
birth shown by an official document, such as a
birth certificate. The child must be your qualifying child or qualifying relative, and all the other
tests to claim the child as a dependent must be
met.
Children of divorced or separated parents
(or parents who live apart). In most cases,
because of the residency test, a child of divorced or separated parents is the qualifying
child of the custodial parent. However, the child
will be treated as the qualifying child of the noncustodial parent if all four of the following statements are true.
1. The parents:
a. Are divorced or legally separated under a decree of divorce or separate
maintenance;
b. Are separated under a written separation agreement; or
c. Lived apart at all times during the last
6 months of the year, whether or not
they are or were married.
2. The child received over half of the child’s
support for the year from the parents.
3. The child is in the custody of one or both
parents for more than half of the year.
4. Either of the following statements is true.
a. The custodial parent signs a written
declaration, discussed later, that they
won’t claim the child as a dependent
for the year, and the noncustodial parent attaches this written declaration
to their return. (If the decree or agreement went into effect after 1984 and
before 2009, see Post-1984 and
13
pre-2009 divorce decree or separation agreement, later. If the decree or
agreement went into effect after 2008,
see Post-2008 divorce decree or separation agreement, later.)
b. A pre-1985 decree of divorce or separate maintenance or written separation agreement that applies to 2025
states that the noncustodial parent
can claim the child as a dependent,
the decree or agreement wasn’t
changed after 1984 to say the noncustodial parent can’t claim the child
as a dependent, and the noncustodial
parent provides at least $600 for the
child’s support during the year.
If statements (1) through (4) are all true, only
the noncustodial parent can:
• Claim the child as a dependent; and
• Claim the child as a qualifying child for the
child tax credit, the credit for other dependents, or the additional child tax credit.
However, this doesn’t allow the noncustodial
parent to claim head of household filing status,
the credit for child and dependent care expenses, the exclusion for dependent care benefits,
or the earned income credit. See Applying the
tiebreaker rules to divorced or separated parents (or parents who live apart), later.
Example—earned income credit. Even if
statements (1) through (4) are all true and the
custodial parent signs Form 8332 or a substantially similar statement that the custodial parent
won’t claim the child as a dependent for 2025,
this doesn’t allow the noncustodial parent to
claim the child as a qualifying child for the
earned income credit. The custodial parent or
another taxpayer, if eligible, can claim the child
for the earned income credit.
Custodial parent and noncustodial parent. The custodial parent is the parent with
whom the child lived for the greater number of
nights during the year. The other parent is the
noncustodial parent.
If the parents divorced or separated during
the year and the child lived with both parents
before the separation, the custodial parent is
the one with whom the child lived for the greater
number of nights during the rest of the year.
A child is treated as living with a parent for a
night if the child sleeps:
• At that parent’s home, whether or not the
parent is present; or
• In the company of the parent, when the
child doesn’t sleep at a parent’s home (for
example, the parent and child are on vacation together).
Equal number of nights. If the child lived
with each parent for an equal number of nights
during the year, the custodial parent is the parent with the higher AGI.
December 31. The night of December 31 is
treated as part of the year in which the night begins. For example, the night of December 31,
2025, is treated as part of 2025.
Emancipated child. If a child is emancipated under state law, the child is treated as not
living with either parent. See Examples 5 and 6.
14
Absences. If a child wasn’t with either parent on a particular night (because, for example,
the child was staying at a friend’s house), the
child is treated as living with the parent with
whom the child normally would have lived for
that night, except for the absence. But if it can’t
be determined with which parent the child normally would have lived or if the child would not
have lived with either parent that night, the child
is treated as not living with either parent that
night.
Parent works at night. If, due to a parent’s
nighttime work schedule, a child lives for a
greater number of days, but not nights, with the
parent who works at night, that parent is treated
as the custodial parent. On a school day, the
child is treated as living at the primary residence registered with the school.
Example 1—child lived with one parent
for a greater number of nights. You and your
child’s other parent are divorced. In 2025, your
child lived with you 210 nights and with the
other parent 155 nights. You are the custodial
parent.
Example 2—child is away at camp. In
2025, your child lives with each parent for alternate weeks. In the summer, your child spends 6
weeks at summer camp. During those 6 weeks,
your child is treated as living with you for 3
weeks and with your child’s other parent, your
ex-spouse, for 3 weeks because this is how
long the child would have lived with each parent
if the child had not attended summer camp.
Example 3—child lived same number of
nights with each parent. Your child lived with
you 180 nights during the year and lived the
same number of nights with the child’s other parent, your ex-spouse. Your AGI is $40,000. Your
ex-spouse’s AGI is $25,000. You are treated as
your child’s custodial parent because you have
the higher AGI.
Example 4—child is at parent’s home
but with other parent. Your child normally
lives with you during the week and with the
child’s other parent, your ex-spouse, every other
weekend. You become ill and are hospitalized.
Your ex-spouse lives in your home with your
child for 10 consecutive days while you are in
the hospital. Your child is treated as living with
you during this 10-day period because your
child was living in your home.
Example 5—child emancipated in May.
Your child turned 18 in May 2025 and became
emancipated under the law of the state where
your child lives. As a result, your child isn’t considered in the custody of either parent for more
than half of the year. The special rule for children of divorced or separated parents doesn’t
apply.
Example 6—child emancipated in August. Your child lives with you from January 1,
2025, until May 31, 2025, and lives with the
child’s other parent, your ex-spouse, from June
1, 2025, through the end of the year. Your child
turns 18 and is emancipated under state law on
August 1, 2025. Because your child is treated
as not living with either parent beginning on August 1, your child is treated as living with you
the greater number of nights in 2025. You are
the custodial parent.
Written declaration. The custodial parent
must use either Form 8332 or a similar statement (containing the same information required
by the form) to make the written declaration to
release a claim to an exemption for a child to
the noncustodial parent. Although the exemption amount is zero for tax year 2025, this release allows the noncustodial parent to claim
the child tax credit, credit for other dependents,
or additional child tax credit, if applicable, for
the child. The noncustodial parent must attach
a copy of the form or statement to their tax return.
The release can be for 1 year, for a number
of specified years (for example, alternate
years), or for all future years, as specified in the
declaration.
Post-1984 and pre-2009 divorce decree
or separation agreement. If the divorce decree or separation agreement went into effect
after 1984 and before 2009, the noncustodial
parent may be able to attach certain pages from
the decree or agreement instead of Form 8332.
The decree or agreement must state all three of
the following.
1. The noncustodial parent can claim the
child as a dependent without regard to any
condition, such as payment of support.
2. The custodial parent won’t claim the child
as a dependent for the year.
3. The years for which the noncustodial parent, rather than the custodial parent, can
claim the child as a dependent.
The noncustodial parent must attach all of
the following pages of the decree or agreement
to their tax return.
• The cover page (write the other parent’s
SSN on this page).
• The pages that include all of the information identified in items (1) through (3)
above.
• The signature page with the other parent’s
signature and the date of the agreement.
Post-2008 divorce decree or separation
agreement. The noncustodial parent can’t attach pages from the decree or agreement instead of Form 8332 if the decree or agreement
went into effect after 2008. The custodial parent
must sign either Form 8332 or a similar statement the only purpose of which is to release the
custodial parent’s claim to an exemption, and
the noncustodial parent must attach a copy to
their return. The form or statement must release
the custodial parent’s claim to the child without
any conditions. For example, the release must
not depend on the noncustodial parent paying
support.
!
CAUTION
The noncustodial parent must attach
the required information even if it was
filed with a return in an earlier year.
Revocation of release of claim to an exemption. The custodial parent can revoke a release of claim to an exemption. For the revocation to be effective for 2025, the custodial parent
must have given (or made reasonable efforts to
give) written notice of the revocation to the
Publication 501 (2025)
noncustodial parent in 2024 or earlier. The custodial parent can use Part III of Form 8332 for
this purpose and must attach a copy of the revocation to their return for each tax year the custodial parent claims the child as a dependent as
a result of the revocation.
Remarried parent. If you remarry, the support provided by your new spouse is treated as
provided by you.
Parents who never married. This rule for
divorced or separated parents also applies to
parents who never married and lived apart at all
times during the last 6 months of the year.
Support Test (To Be a Qualifying
Child)
To meet this test, the child can’t have provided
more than half of the child’s own support for the
year.
This test is different from the support test to
be a qualifying relative, which is described later.
However, to see what is or isn’t support, see
Support Test (To Be a Qualifying Relative), later.
If you aren’t sure whether a child provided more
than half of their own support, you may find
Worksheet 2 helpful.
Example. You provided $4,000 toward your
16-year-old child’s support for the year and the
child provided $6,000. Your child provided more
than half their own support. This child isn’t your
qualifying child.
Foster care payments and expenses. Payments you receive for the support of a foster
child from a child placement agency are considered support provided by the agency. Similarly,
payments you receive for the support of a foster
child from a state or county are considered support provided by the state or county.
If you aren’t in the trade or business of providing foster care and your unreimbursed
out-of-pocket expenses in caring for a foster
child were mainly to benefit an organization
qualified to receive deductible charitable contributions, the expenses are deductible as charitable contributions but aren’t considered support
you provided. For more information about the
deduction for charitable contributions, see Pub.
526. If your unreimbursed expenses aren’t deductible as charitable contributions, they may
qualify as support you provided.
If you are in the trade or business of providing foster care, your unreimbursed expenses
aren’t considered support provided by you.
Example 1. A foster child lived with a married couple, the Smiths, for the last 3 months of
the year. The Smiths cared for the foster child
because they wanted to adopt the child (although the child had not been placed with them
for adoption). They didn’t care for the foster
child as a trade or business or to benefit the
agency that placed the foster child in their
home. The Smiths’ unreimbursed expenses
aren’t deductible as charitable contributions but
are considered support they provided for the
foster child.
Publication 501 (2025)
Example 2. You provided $3,000 toward
your 10-year-old foster child’s support for the
year. The state government provided $4,000,
which is considered support provided by the
state, not by the child. See Support provided by
the state (welfare, food benefits, housing, etc.),
later. Your foster child didn’t provide more than
half of their own support for the year.
Scholarships. A scholarship received by a
child who is a student isn’t taken into account in
determining whether the child provided more
than half of their own support.
TANF and other governmental payments.
Under proposed Treasury regulations, if you received Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) payments or other similar payments
and used the payment to support another person, those payments are considered support
you provided for that person, rather than support provided by the government or other third
party.
Joint Return Test (To Be a
Qualifying Child)
Qualifying Child of More Than One
Person
If your qualifying child isn’t a qualifying
TIP child of anyone else, this topic doesn’t
apply to you and you don’t need to
read about it. This is also true if your qualifying
child isn’t a qualifying child of anyone else except your spouse with whom you plan to file a
joint return.
If a child is treated as the qualifying
child of the noncustodial parent under
CAUTION the rules for children of divorced or
separated parents (or parents who live apart),
described earlier, see Applying the tiebreaker
rules to divorced or separated parents (or parents who live apart), later.
!
Sometimes, a child meets the relationship,
age, residency, support, and joint return tests to
be a qualifying child of more than one person.
Although the child is a qualifying child of each of
these persons, generally only one person can
actually treat the child as a qualifying child to
take all of the following tax benefits (provided
the person is eligible for each benefit).
To meet this test, the child can’t file a joint return
for the year.
1. The child tax credit, credit for other dependents, or additional child tax credit.
Exception. An exception to the joint return test
applies if your child and the child’s spouse file a
joint return only to claim a refund of income tax
withheld or estimated tax paid.
2. Head of household filing status.
Example 1—child files joint return. You
supported your 18-year-old child who lived with
you all year while the child’s spouse was in the
Armed Forces. Your child’s spouse earned
$35,000 for the year. The couple files a joint return so this child isn’t your qualifying child.
Example 2—child files joint return only
as claim for refund of withheld tax. Your
18-year-old child and your child’s 17-year-old
spouse had $800 of wages from part-time jobs
and no other income. They lived with you all
year. Neither is required to file a tax return. They
don’t have a child. Taxes were taken out of their
pay, so they file a joint return only to get a refund
of the withheld taxes. The exception to the joint
return test applies, so this child may be your
qualifying child if all the other tests are met.
Example 3—child files joint return to
claim American opportunity credit. The
facts are the same as in Example 2, except no
taxes were taken out of either spouse’s pay.
However, they file a joint return to claim an
American opportunity credit of $124 and get a
refund of that amount. Because claiming the
American opportunity credit is their reason for
filing the return, they aren’t filing it only to get a
refund of income tax withheld or estimated tax
paid. The exception to the joint return test
doesn’t apply, so this child isn’t your qualifying
child.
3. The credit for child and dependent care
expenses.
4. The exclusion from income for dependent
care benefits.
5. The earned income credit.
The other person can’t take any of these
benefits based on this qualifying child. In other
words, you and the other person can’t agree to
divide these tax benefits between you.
Tiebreaker rules. To determine which person
can treat the child as a qualifying child to claim
these five tax benefits, the following tiebreaker
rules apply. For purposes of these tiebreaker
rules, the term “parent” means a biological or
adoptive parent of an individual. It does not include a stepparent or foster parent unless that
person has adopted the individual.
• If only one of the persons is the child’s parent, the child is treated as the qualifying
child of the parent.
• If the parents file a joint return together and
can claim the child as a qualifying child,
the child is treated as the qualifying child of
the parents.
• If the parents don’t file a joint return together but both parents claim the child as a
qualifying child, the IRS will treat the child
as the qualifying child of the parent with
whom the child lived for the longer period
of time during the year. If the child lived
with each parent for the same amount of
time, the IRS will treat the child as the qualifying child of the parent who had the
higher AGI for the year.
• If no parent can claim the child as a qualifying child, the child is treated as the qualifying child of the person who had the highest
AGI for the year.
• If a parent can claim the child as a qualifying child but no parent does so claim the
15
Worksheet 2. Worksheet for Determining Support
Keep for Your Records
Funds Belonging to the Person You Supported
1. Enter the total funds belonging to the person you supported, including income received (taxable
and nontaxable) and amounts borrowed during the year, plus the amount in savings and other
accounts at the beginning of the year. Don’t include funds provided by the state; include those
amounts on line 23 instead . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2. Enter the amount on line 1 that was used for the person’s support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3. Enter the amount on line 1 that was used for other purposes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4. Enter the total amount in the person’s savings and other accounts at the end of the year . . . . . . . .
5. Add lines 2 through 4. (This amount should equal line 1.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Expenses for Entire Household (where the person you supported lived)
6. Lodging (complete line 6a or 6b):
a. Enter the total rent paid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
b. Enter the fair rental value of the home. If the person you supported owned the home,
also include this amount in line 21 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
7. Enter the total food expenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
8. Enter the total amount of utilities (heat, light, water, etc., not included in line 6a or 6b) . . . . . . . . . .
9. Enter the total amount of repairs (not included in line 6a or 6b) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
10. Enter the total of other expenses. Don’t include expenses of maintaining the home, such as
mortgage interest, real estate taxes, and insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
11. Add lines 6a through 10. These are the total household expenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
12. Enter total number of persons who lived in the household . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Expenses for the Person You Supported
13. Divide line 11 by line 12. This is the person’s share of the household expenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
14. Enter the person’s total clothing expenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
15. Enter the person’s total education expenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
16. Enter the person’s total medical and dental expenses not paid for or reimbursed by
insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
17. Enter the person’s total travel and recreation expenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
18. Enter the total of the person’s other expenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
19. Add lines 13 through 18. This is the total cost of the person’s support for the year . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6a.
6b.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
Did the Person Provide More Than Half of the Person’s Own Support?
20. Multiply line 19 by 50% (0.50) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.
21. Enter the amount from line 2, plus the amount from line 6b, if the person you supported owned
the home. This is the amount the person provided for their own support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21.
22. Is line 21 more than line 20?
No. You meet the support test for this person to be your qualifying child. If this person also meets the other tests to be a
qualifying child, stop here; don’t complete lines 23–26. Otherwise, go to line 23 and fill out the rest of the worksheet to
determine if this person is your qualifying relative.
Yes. You don’t meet the support test for this person to be either your qualifying child or your qualifying relative. Stop
here.
Did You Provide More Than Half?
23. Enter the amount others provided for the person’s support. Include amounts provided by state,
local, and other welfare societies or agencies. Don’t include any amounts included on
line 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23.
24. Add lines 21 and 23 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24.
25. Subtract line 24 from line 19. This is the amount you provided for the person’s support . . . . . . . . . 25.
26. Is line 25 more than line 20?
Yes. You meet the support test for this person to be your qualifying relative.
No. You don’t meet the support test for this person to be your qualifying relative. You can’t claim this person as a
dependent unless you can do so under a multiple support agreement, the support test for children of divorced or separated
parents (or parents who live apart), or the special rule for kidnapped children. See Multiple Support Agreement, Support Test
for Children of Divorced or Separated Parents (or Parents Who Live Apart), or Kidnapped child under Qualifying Relative.
16
Publication 501 (2025)
child, the child is treated as the qualifying
child of the person who had the highest
AGI for the year, but only if that person’s
AGI is higher than the highest AGI of any of
the child’s parents who can claim the child.
Subject to these tiebreaker rules, you and
the other person may be able to choose which
of you claims the child as a qualifying child.
You may be able to qualify for the
TIP earned income credit under the rules
for taxpayers without a qualifying child
if you have a qualifying child for the earned income credit who is claimed as a qualifying child
by another taxpayer. For more information, see
Pub. 596.
Example 1—child lived with parent and
grandparent. You and your 3-year-old child,
Jordan, lived with your parent all year. You are
25 years old and unmarried, and your AGI is
$9,000. Your parent’s AGI is $15,000. Your
child’s other parent didn’t live with you or your
child. You haven’t signed Form 8832 (or a similar statement).
Jordan is a qualifying child of both you and
your parent because Jordan meets the relationship, age, residency, support, and joint return
tests for both you and your parent. However,
only one of you can claim Jordan. Your child
isn’t a qualifying child of anyone else, including
Jordan’s other parent. You agree to let your parent claim Jordan. This means your parent can
claim Jordan as a qualifying child for all of the
five tax benefits listed earlier, if your parent
qualifies for each of those benefits (and if you
don’t claim Jordan as a qualifying child for any
of those tax benefits).
Example 2—parent has higher AGI than
grandparent. The facts are the same as in Example 1, except your AGI is $18,000. Because
your parent’s AGI isn’t higher than yours, your
parent can’t claim Jordan. Only you can claim
Jordan.
Example 3—two persons claim same
child. The facts are the same as in Example 1,
except you and your parent both claim Jordan
as a qualifying child. In this case, you, as the
child’s parent, will be the only one allowed to
claim the child as a qualifying child. The IRS will
disallow your parent’s claim to the five tax benefits listed earlier based on Jordan. However,
your parent may qualify for the earned income
credit as a taxpayer without a qualifying child.
Example 4—qualifying children split between two persons. The facts are the same
as in Example 1, except you also have two other
young children who are qualifying children of
both you and your parent. Only one of you can
claim each child. However, if your parent’s AGI
is higher than yours, you can allow your parent
to claim one or more of the children. For example, if you claim one child, your parent can claim
the other two.
Example 5—taxpayer who is a qualifying
child. The facts are the same as in Example 1,
except you are only 18 years old and didn’t provide more than half of your own support for the
year. This means you are your parent’s qualifying child. If your parent can claim you as a
Publication 501 (2025)
dependent, then you can’t claim your child as a
dependent because of the dependent taxpayer
test, explained earlier, unless your parent files a
return only to claim a refund of income tax withheld or estimated tax paid.
Example 6—separated parents. You,
your spouse, and your 10-year-old child all lived
in the United States for all of 2025. On August
1, 2025, your spouse moved out of the household. In August and September, your child lived
with you. For the rest of the year, your child lived
with your spouse, the child’s other parent. Your
child is a qualifying child of both you and your
spouse because your child lived with each of
you for more than half the year and because
your child met the relationship, age, support,
and joint return tests for both of you. At the end
of the year, you and your spouse still weren’t divorced, legally separated, or separated under a
written separation agreement, so the rule for
children of divorced or separated parents (or
parents who live apart) doesn’t apply.
You and your spouse will file separate returns. Your spouse agrees to let you treat your
child as a qualifying child. This means, if your
spouse doesn’t claim your child as a qualifying
child, you can claim this child as a qualifying
child for the child tax credit and the exclusion for
dependent care benefits (assuming you otherwise qualify for both tax benefits). However, you
can’t claim head of household filing status because you and your spouse didn’t live apart for
the last 6 months of the year. As a result, your
filing status is married filing separately. You
can’t claim the earned income credit because
you don’t meet the requirements for certain separated spouses to claim the earned income
credit when they don’t file a joint return. You and
your spouse didn’t live apart for the last 6
months of 2025 and while you did live apart at
the end of 2025, you aren’t legally separated
under a written separation agreement or decree
of separate maintenance. Therefore, you don’t
meet the requirements to take the earned income credit as a separated spouse who is not
filing a joint return. You also can’t take the credit
for child and dependent care expenses because your fling status is married filing separately and you and your spouse didn’t live apart
for the last 6 months of 2025.
Example 7—separated parents claim
same child. The facts are the same as in Example 6, except you and your spouse both
claim your child as a qualifying child. In this
case, only your spouse will be allowed to treat
your child as a qualifying child. This is because,
during 2025, the child lived with your spouse
longer than with you. If you claimed the child tax
credit for your child, the IRS will disallow your
claim to the child tax credit. If you don’t have another qualifying child or dependent, the IRS will
also disallow your claim to the exclusion for dependent care benefits. In addition, because you
and your spouse didn’t live apart for the last 6
months of the year, your spouse can’t claim
head of household filing status. As a result, your
spouse’s filing status is married filing separately.
Your spouse can’t claim the earned income
credit because your spouse doesn’t meet the
requirements to claim the earned income credit
for certain separated spouses. You and your
spouse didn’t live apart for the last 6 months of
2025 and, while you did live apart at the end of
2025, you aren’t legally separated under a written separation agreement or decree of separate
maintenance. Therefore, your spouse doesn’t
meet the requirements to take the earned income credit as a separated spouse who isn’t filing a joint return. Your spouse also can’t take
the credit for child and dependent care expenses because your spouse’s filing status is married filing separately and you and your spouse
didn’t live apart for the last 6 months of 2025.
Example 8—unmarried parents. You,
your 5-year-old child, Marley, and Marley’s other
parent lived together in the United States all
year. You and Marley’s other parent aren’t married. Marley is a qualifying child of both you and
the other parent because Marley meets the relationship, age, residency, support, and joint return tests for both you and the other parent.
Your AGI is $12,000 and the other parent’s AGI
is $14,000. The other parent agrees to let you
claim Marley as a qualifying child. This means
you can claim Marley as a qualifying child for
the child tax credit, head of household filing status, the credit for child and dependent care expenses, the exclusion for dependent care benefits, and the earned income credit, if you qualify
for each of those tax benefits (and if the other
parent doesn’t claim Marley as a qualifying child
for any of those tax benefits).
Example 9—unmarried parents claim
same child. The facts are the same as in Example 8, except you and Marley’s other parent
both claim Marley as a qualifying child. In this
case, only the other parent will be allowed to
treat Marley as a qualifying child. This is because the other parent’s AGI, $14,000, is more
than your AGI, $12,000. If you claimed the child
tax credit for Marley, the IRS will disallow your
claim to this credit. If you don’t have another
qualifying child or dependent, the IRS will also
disallow your claim to head of household filing
status, the credit for child and dependent care
expenses, and the exclusion for dependent care
benefits. However, you may be able to claim the
earned income credit as a taxpayer without a
qualifying child.
Example 10—child didn’t live with a parent. You and your sibling’s child, Reid, lived
with your parent all year. You are 25 years old,
and your AGI is $9,300. Your parent’s AGI is
$15,000. Reid’s parents file jointly, have an AGI
of less than $9,000, and don’t live with you or
Reid. Reid is a qualifying child of both you and
your parent because Reid meets the relationship, age, residency, support, and joint return
tests for both you and your parent. However,
only your parent can treat Reid as a qualifying
child. This is because your parent’s AGI,
$15,000, is more than your AGI, $9,300.
Applying the tiebreaker rules to divorced or
separated parents (or parents who live
apart). If a child is treated as the qualifying
child of the noncustodial parent under the rules
described earlier for children of divorced or separated parents (or parents who live apart), only
the noncustodial parent can claim the child as a
dependent and claim the child tax credit, additional child tax credit, or credit for other dependents for the child. However, only the custodial
17
parent can claim the credit for child and dependent care expenses or the exclusion for dependent care benefits for the child. Also, generally, the noncustodial parent can’t claim the
child as a qualifying child for head of household
filing status or the earned income credit. Instead, generally, the custodial parent, if eligible,
or other eligible person can claim the child as a
qualifying child for those two benefits. If the
child is the qualifying child of more than one
person for these benefits, then the tiebreaker
rules determine whether the custodial parent or
another eligible person can treat the child as a
qualifying child.
The noncustodial parent may be able
TIP to claim the self-only earned income
credit if they meet other requirements.
See Pub. 596 and Schedule EIC and its instructions for more information.
Example 1. You and your 5-year-old child,
Kody, lived all year with your parent in the United States. Your parent paid the entire cost of
keeping up the home. Your AGI is $10,000. Your
parent’s AGI is $25,000. Kody’s other parent
lived in the United States all year, but didn’t live
with you or Kody.
Under the rules explained earlier for children
of divorced or separated parents (or parents
who live apart), Kody is treated as the qualifying
child of Kody’s other parent, who can claim the
child tax credit for the child. Because of this,
you can’t claim the child tax credit for your child.
However, those rules don’t allow Kody’s other
parent to claim Kody as a qualifying child for
head of household filing status, the credit for
child and dependent care expenses, the exclusion for dependent care benefits, or the earned
income credit.
You and your parent didn’t have any childcare expenses or dependent care benefits, so
neither of you can claim the credit for child and
dependent care expenses or the exclusion for
dependent care benefits. But Kody is a qualifying child of both you and your parent for head of
household filing status and the earned income
credit because Kody meets the relationship,
age, residency, support, and joint return tests
for both you and your parent. (The support test
doesn’t apply for the earned income credit.)
However, you agree to let your parent claim
Kody. This means your parent can claim Kody
for head of household filing status and the
earned income credit if your parent qualifies for
each and if you don’t claim Kody as a qualifying
child for the earned income credit. (You can’t
claim head of household filing status because
your parent paid the entire cost of keeping up
the home.) You may be able to claim the earned
income credit as a taxpayer without a qualifying
child.
Example 2. The facts are the same as in
Example 1, except your AGI is $25,000 and
your parent’s AGI is $21,000. Your parent can’t
claim Kody as a qualifying child for any purpose
because your parent’s AGI isn’t higher than
yours.
Example 3. The facts are the same as in
Example 1, except you and your parent both
claim Kody as a qualifying child for the earned
income credit. Your parent also claims Kody as
18
a qualifying child for head of household filing
status. You, as the child’s parent, will be the
only one allowed to claim Kody as a qualifying
child for the earned income credit. The IRS will
disallow your parent’s claim to head of household filing status unless your parent has another
qualifying child or dependent. Your parent can’t
claim the earned income credit as a taxpayer
without a qualifying child because your parent’s
AGI is more than $19,104.
Qualifying Relative
Four tests must be met for a person to be your
qualifying relative. The four tests are:
1. Not a qualifying child test,
2. Member of household or relationship test,
3. Gross income test, and
4. Support test.
Age. Unlike a qualifying child, a qualifying relative can be any age. There is no age test for a
qualifying relative.
Kidnapped child. You can treat a child as your
qualifying relative even if the child has been kidnapped, but the following statements must be
true.
1. The child is presumed by law enforcement
authorities to have been kidnapped by
someone who isn’t a member of your family or the child’s family.
2. In the year the kidnapping occurred, the
child met the tests to be your qualifying relative for the part of the year before the
date of the kidnapping.
3. In the year of the child’s return, the child
met the tests to be your qualifying relative
for the part of the year following the date of
the child’s return.
This treatment applies for all years until the
earlier of:
1. The year there is a determination that the
child is dead, or
2. The year the child would have reached
age 18.
Not a Qualifying Child Test
A child isn’t your qualifying relative if the child is
your qualifying child or the qualifying child of
any other taxpayer.
Example 1. Your 22-year-old child, who is a
student, lives with you and meets all the tests to
be your qualifying child. This child isn’t your
qualifying relative.
Example 2. Your 2-year-old child lives with
your parents and meets all the tests to be their
qualifying child. This child isn’t your qualifying
relative.
Example 3. Your 30-year-old child lives
with you. This child isn’t a qualifying child because the age test isn’t met. This child may be
your qualifying relative if the gross income test
and the support test are met.
Example 4. Your 13-year-old grandchild
only lived with you for 5 months during the year.
Your grandchild isn’t your qualifying child because the residency test isn’t met. Your grandchild may be your qualifying relative if the gross
income test and the support test are met.
Child of person not required to file a return.
A child isn’t the qualifying child of any other taxpayer and so may qualify as your qualifying relative if the child’s parent (or other person for
whom the child is defined as a qualifying child)
isn’t required to file an income tax return and either:
• Doesn’t file an income tax return, or
• Files a return only to get a refund of income tax withheld or estimated tax paid.
Example 1—return not required. You
support an unrelated friend and your friend’s
3-year-old child, who lived with you all year in
your home. Your friend has no gross income,
isn’t required to file a 2025 tax return, and
doesn’t file a 2025 tax return. Both your friend
and your friend’s child are your qualifying relatives if the support test is met.
Example 2—return filed to claim refund.
The facts are the same as in Example 1, except
your friend had wages of $1,500 during the year
and had income tax withheld from their wages.
Your friend files a return only to get a refund of
the income tax withheld and doesn’t claim the
earned income credit or any other tax credits or
deductions. Both your friend and your friend’s
child are your qualifying relatives if the support
test is met.
Example 3—earned income credit
claimed. The facts are the same as in Example 2, except your friend had wages of $8,000
during the year and claimed the earned income
credit. Your friend’s child is the qualifying child
of another taxpayer (your friend), so you can’t
claim your friend’s child as your qualifying relative. Also, you can’t claim your friend as your
qualifying relative because of the gross income
test explained later.
Child in Canada or Mexico. You may be able
to claim your child as a dependent even if the
child lives in Canada or Mexico. If the child
doesn’t live with you, the child doesn’t meet the
residency test to be your qualifying child. However, the child may still be your qualifying relative. If the persons the child does live with aren’t
U.S. citizens and have no U.S. gross income,
those persons aren’t “taxpayers,” so the child
isn’t the qualifying child of any other taxpayer. If
the child isn’t the qualifying child of any other
taxpayer, the child is your qualifying relative as
long as the gross income test and the support
test are met.
You can’t claim as a dependent a child who
lives in a foreign country other than Canada or
Mexico, unless the child is a U.S. citizen, U.S.
resident alien, or U.S. national. There is an exception for certain adopted children who lived
with you all year. See Citizen or Resident Test,
earlier.
Example. You provide all the support of
your children, ages 6, 8, and 12, who live in
Mexico with your parent and have no income.
Publication 501 (2025)
You are single and live in the United States.
Your parent isn’t a U.S. citizen and has no U.S.
income, so your parent isn’t a “taxpayer.” Your
children aren’t your qualifying children because
they don’t meet the residency test. But because
they aren’t the qualifying children of any other
taxpayer, they may be your qualifying relatives
and you may be permitted to claim them as dependents. You may also be able to claim your
parent as a dependent if the gross income and
support tests are met.
Member of Household or
Relationship Test
To meet this test, a person must either:
1. Live with you all year as a member of your
household, or
2. Be related to you in one of the ways listed
under Relatives who don’t have to live with
you below.
If at any time during the year the person was
your spouse, that person can’t be your qualifying relative.
Relatives who don’t have to live with you. A
person related to you in any of the following
ways doesn’t have to live with you all year as a
member of your household to meet this test.
• Your child, stepchild, or foster child, or a
descendant of any of them (for example,
your grandchild). (A legally adopted child is
considered your child.)
• Your brother, sister, half brother, half sister,
stepbrother, or stepsister.
• Your father, mother, grandparent, or other
direct ancestor, but not foster parent.
• Your stepfather or stepmother.
• A son or daughter of your brother or sister.
• A son or daughter of your half brother or
half sister.
• A brother or sister of your father or mother.
• Your son-in-law, daughter-in-law, father-in-law, mother-in-law, brother-in-law,
or sister-in-law.
Any of these relationships that were established
by marriage aren’t ended by death or divorce.
Example. In 2019, you and your spouse
began supporting your spouse’s unmarried parent, Gene. Your spouse died in 2024. Despite
your spouse’s death, Gene continues to meet
this test, even if Gene doesn’t live with you. You
can claim Gene as a dependent if all other tests
are met, including the gross income and support tests.
Foster child. A foster child is an individual
who is placed with you by an authorized placement agency or by judgment, decree, or other
order of any court of competent jurisdiction.
Joint return. If you file a joint return, the person can be related to either you or your spouse.
Also, the person doesn’t need to be related to
the spouse who provides support.
For example, you provide more than half the
support of your spouse’s stepparent. Your spouse’s stepparent may be your qualifying relative
even if the stepparent doesn’t live with you.
However, if you and your spouse file separate
returns, your spouse’s stepparent can be your
Publication 501 (2025)
qualifying relative only if the stepparent lives
with you all year as a member of your household.
Temporary absences. A person is considered
to live with you as a member of your household
during periods of time when one of you, or both,
is temporarily absent due to special circumstances, such as:
• Illness,
• Education,
• Business,
• Vacation,
• Military service, or
• Detention in a juvenile facility.
If the person is placed in a nursing home for
an indefinite period of time to receive constant
medical care, the absence may be considered
temporary.
Death or birth. A person who died during the
year, but lived with you as a member of your
household until death, will meet this test. The
same is true for a child who was born during the
year and lived with you as a member of your
household for the rest of the year. The test is
also met if a child lived with you as a member of
your household except for any required hospital
stay following birth. The test is also met for an
adopted or foster child if you adopted the person in 2025, the person was lawfully placed
with you for legal adoption by you in 2025, or
the person was an eligible foster child placed
with you during 2025 and your main home was
the person’s main home for the entire time since
the person was adopted or placed with you in
2025.
If your dependent died during the year and
you otherwise qualify to claim that person as a
dependent, you can still claim that person as a
dependent.
Example. Your parent, who met the tests to
be your qualifying relative, died on January 15.
You can claim your parent as a dependent on
your return.
Local law violated. A person doesn’t meet
this test if at any time during the year the relationship between you and that person violates
local law.
Example. Your significant other lived with
you as a member of your household all year.
However, your relationship violated the laws of
the state where you live because your significant other was married to someone else. Therefore, your significant other doesn’t meet this test
and you can’t claim them as a dependent.
Adopted child. An adopted child is always
treated as your own child. The term “adopted
child” includes a child who was lawfully placed
with you for legal adoption.
Cousin. Your cousin must live with you all year
as a member of your household to meet this
test.
Gross Income Test
To meet this test, a person’s gross income for
the year must be less than $5,200.
Gross income defined. Gross income is all income in the form of money, property, and services that isn’t exempt from tax.
In a manufacturing, merchandising, or mining business, gross income is the total net sales
minus the cost of goods sold, plus any miscellaneous income from the business.
Gross receipts from rental property are
gross income. Don’t deduct taxes, repairs, or
other expenses to determine the gross income
from rental property.
Gross income includes a partner’s share of
the gross (not net) partnership income.
Gross income also includes all taxable unemployment compensation, taxable social security benefits, and certain amounts received as
scholarship and fellowship grants. Scholarships
received by degree candidates and used for tuition, fees, supplies, books, and equipment required for particular courses aren’t generally included in gross income. For more information
about scholarships, see chapter 1 of Pub. 970.
Disabled dependent working at sheltered
workshop. For purposes of the gross income
test, the gross income of an individual who is
permanently and totally disabled at any time
during the year doesn’t include income for services the individual performs at a sheltered workshop. The availability of medical care at the
workshop must be the main reason for the individual’s presence there. Also, the income must
come solely from activities at the workshop that
are incident to this medical care.
A “sheltered workshop” is a school that:
• Provides special instruction or training designed to alleviate the disability of the individual; and
• Is operated by certain tax-exempt organizations or by a state, a U.S. territory, a political subdivision of a state or territory, the
United States, or the District of Columbia.
Permanently and totally disabled has the
same meaning here as under Qualifying Child,
earlier.
Support Test (To Be a Qualifying
Relative)
To meet this test, you must generally provide
more than half of a person’s total support during
the calendar year.
However, if two or more persons provide
support, but no one person provides more than
half of a person’s total support, see Multiple
Support Agreement, later.
How to determine if support test is met.
You figure whether you have provided more
than half of a person’s total support by comparing the amount you contributed to that person’s
support with the entire amount of support that
person received from all sources. This includes
support the person provided from the person’s
own funds.
You may find Worksheet 2 helpful in figuring
whether you provided more than half of a person’s support.
Person’s own funds not used for support. A
person’s own funds aren’t support unless they
are actually spent for support.
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Example. Your parent received $2,400 in
social security benefits and $300 in interest,
paid $2,000 for lodging and $400 for recreation,
and put $300 in a savings account.
Even though your parent received a total of
$2,700 ($2,400 + $300), your parent spent only
$2,400 ($2,000 + $400) for your parent’s own
support. If you spent more than $2,400 for your
parent’s support and no other support was received, you have provided more than half of
your parent’s support.
Child’s wages used for own support. You
can’t include in your contribution to your child’s
support any support paid for by the child with
the child’s own wages, even if you paid the wages.
Year support is provided. The year you provide the support is the year you pay for it, even if
you do so with borrowed money that you repay
in a later year.
If you use a fiscal year to report your income,
you must provide more than half of the dependent’s support for the calendar year in which your
fiscal year begins.
Armed Forces dependency allotments. The
part of the allotment contributed by the government and the part taken out of your military pay
are both considered provided by you in figuring
whether you provide more than half of the support. If your allotment is used to support persons other than those you name, you can claim
them as dependents if they otherwise qualify.
Example. You are in the Armed Forces. You
authorize an allotment for your surviving parent
that your surviving parent uses to support themselves and their sibling. If the allotment provides
more than half of each person’s support, you
can claim each of them as a dependent, if they
otherwise qualify, even though you authorize the
allotment only for your surviving parent.
Tax-exempt military quarters allowances. These allowances are treated the same
way as dependency allotments in figuring support. The allotment of pay and the tax-exempt
basic allowance for quarters are both considered as provided by you for support.
Tax-exempt income. In figuring a person’s total support, include tax-exempt income, savings, and borrowed amounts used to support
that person. Tax-exempt income includes certain social security benefits, welfare benefits,
nontaxable life insurance proceeds, Armed
Forces family allotments, nontaxable pensions,
and tax-exempt interest.
Example 1. You provide $4,000 toward
your parent’s support during the year. Your parent has earned income of $600, nontaxable social security benefits of $4,800, and tax-exempt
interest of $200, all of which your parent uses
for self-support. You can’t claim your parent as
a dependent because the $4,000 you provide
isn’t more than half of the total support of
$9,600 ($4,000 + $600 + $4,800 + $200).
Example 2. Your sibling takes out a student
loan of $2,500 and uses it to pay college tuition.
Your sibling is personally responsible for the
loan. You provide $2,000 toward their total
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support. You can’t claim them as a dependent
because you provide less than half of their support.
Social security benefits. If spouses each
receive benefits that are paid by one check
made out to both of them, half of the total paid
is considered to be for the support of each
spouse, unless they can show otherwise.
If a child receives social security benefits
and uses them toward their own support, the
benefits are considered as provided by the
child.
Support provided by the state (welfare,
food benefits, housing, etc.). Benefits provided by the state to a needy person are generally considered support provided by the state.
However, payments based on the needs of the
recipient won’t be considered as used entirely
for that person’s support if it is shown that part
of the payments weren’t used for that purpose.
TANF and other governmental payments. Under proposed Treasury regulations,
if you received TANF payments or other similar
payments and used the payments to support
another person, those payments are considered
support you provided for that person, rather
than support provided by the government or
other third party.
Foster care. Payments you receive for the support of a foster child from a child placement
agency are considered support provided by the
agency. See Foster care payments and expenses, earlier.
Home for the aged. If you make a lump-sum
advance payment to a home for the aged to
take care of your relative for life and the payment is based on that person’s life expectancy,
the amount of support you provide each year is
the lump-sum payment divided by the relative’s
life expectancy. The amount of support you provide also includes any other amounts you provided during the year.
Total Support
To figure if you provided more than half of a person’s support, you must first determine the total
support provided for that person. Total support
includes amounts spent to provide food, lodging, clothing, education, medical and dental
care, recreation, transportation, and similar necessities.
Generally, the amount of an item of support
is the amount of the expense incurred in providing that item. For lodging, the amount of support
is the fair rental value of the lodging.
Expenses not directly related to any one
member of a household, such as the cost of
food for the household, must be divided among
the members of the household.
Example 1. A married couple lives with
their two children and one of their parents. Their
parent gets social security benefits of $2,400,
which the parent spends for clothing, transportation, and recreation. The parent has no other
income. The married couple’s total food expense for the household is $5,200. They pay
the parent’s medical and drug expenses of
$1,200. The fair rental value of the lodging provided for the parent is $1,800 a year, based on
the cost of similar rooming facilities. Figure the
parent’s total support as follows.
Fair rental value of lodging
. . . . . . . . . . . .
$ 1,800
Clothing, transportation, and
recreation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2,400
Medical expenses
1,200
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Share of food (1/5 of $5,200)
. . . . . . . . . .
1,040
Total support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
$6,440
The support the married couple provides
($1,800 lodging + $1,200 medical expenses +
$1,040 food = $4,040) is more than half of the
parent’s $6,440 total support.
Example 2. Your parents, Aubrey and Bailey, live with you, your spouse, and your two
children in a house you own. The fair rental
value of your parents’ share of the lodging is
$2,000 a year ($1,000 each), which includes
furnishings and utilities. Aubrey receives a nontaxable pension of $4,200, which Aubrey
spends equally between Aubrey and Bailey for
items of support such as clothing, transportation, and recreation. Your total food expense for
the household is $6,000. Your heat and utility
bills amount to $1,200. Bailey has hospital and
medical expenses of $600, which you pay during the year. Figure your parents’ total support
as follows.
Support provided
Fair rental value of lodging
Aubrey
Bailey
. . . .
$1,000
$1,000
Pension spent for their
support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2,100
2,100
Share of food (1/6 of
$6,000) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1,000
1,000
Medical expenses for Bailey . . .
Parents’ total support
. . . .
600
$4,100
$4,700
You must apply the support test separately
to each parent. You provide $2,000 ($1,000
lodging + $1,000 food) of Aubrey’s total support
of $4,100—less than half. You provide $2,600 to
Bailey ($1,000 lodging + $1,000 food + $600
medical)—more than half of Bailey’s support of
$4,700. You meet the support test for Bailey, but
not for Aubrey. Heat and utility costs are included in the fair rental value of the lodging, so
these aren’t considered separately.
Lodging. If you provide a person with lodging,
you are considered to provide support equal to
the fair rental value of the room, apartment,
house, or other shelter in which the person
lives. Fair rental value includes a reasonable allowance for the use of furniture and appliances,
and for heat and other utilities that are provided.
Fair rental value defined. Fair rental value
is the amount you could reasonably expect to
receive from a stranger for the same kind of
lodging. It is used instead of actual expenses
such as taxes, interest, depreciation, paint, insurance, utilities, and the cost of furniture and
appliances. In some cases, fair rental value may
be equal to the rent paid.
Publication 501 (2025)
If you provide the total lodging, the amount
of support you provide is the fair rental value of
the room the person uses, or a share of the fair
rental value of the entire dwelling if the person
has use of your entire home. If you don’t provide
the total lodging, the total fair rental value must
be divided depending on how much of the total
lodging you provide. If you provide only a part
and the person supplies the rest, the fair rental
value must be divided between both of you according to the amount each provides.
Example. Your parents live rent free in a
house you own. It has a fair rental value of
$5,400 a year furnished, which includes a fair
rental value of $3,600 for the house and $1,800
for the furniture. This doesn’t include heat and
utilities. The house is completely furnished with
furniture belonging to your parents. You pay
$600 for their utility bills. Utilities aren’t usually
included in rent for houses in the area where
your parents live. Therefore, you consider the
total fair rental value of the lodging to be $6,000
($3,600 fair rental value of the unfurnished
house + $1,800 allowance for the furnishings
provided by your parents + $600 cost of utilities)
of which you are considered to provide $4,200
($3,600 + $600).
Person living in their own home. The total fair rental value of a person’s home that the
person owns is considered support contributed
by that person.
Living with someone rent free. If you live
with a person rent free in that person’s home,
you must reduce the amount you provide for
support of that person by the fair rental value of
lodging the person provides you.
Property. Property provided as support is
measured by its fair market value. Fair market
value is the price that property would sell for on
the open market. It is the price that would be
agreed upon between a willing buyer and a willing seller, with neither being required to act, and
both having reasonable knowledge of the relevant facts.
Capital expenses. Capital items, such as
furniture, appliances, and cars, bought for a person during the year can be included in total support under certain circumstances.
The following examples show when a capital
item is or isn’t support.
Example 1. You buy a $200 power lawn
mower for your 13-year-old child. The child is
given the duty of keeping the lawn trimmed. Because the lawn mower benefits all members of
the household, don’t include the cost of the
lawn mower in the support of your child.
Example 2. You buy a $150 television set
as a birthday present for your 12-year-old child.
The television set is placed in your child’s bedroom. You can include the cost of the television
set in the support of your child.
Example 3. You pay $5,000 for a car and
register it in your name. You and your
17-year-old child use the car equally. Because
you own the car and don’t give it to your child
but merely let your child use it, don’t include the
cost of the car in your child’s total support.
Publication 501 (2025)
However, you can include in your child’s support
your out-of-pocket expenses of operating the
car for your child’s benefit.
Example 4. Your 17-year-old child, using
personal funds, buys a car for $4,500. You provide the rest of your child’s support—$4,000.
Because the car is bought and owned by your
child, the car’s fair market value ($4,500) must
be included in your child’s support. Your child
has provided more than half of their own total
support of $8,500 ($4,500 + $4,000), so this
child isn’t your qualifying child. You didn’t provide more than half of the child’s total support,
so the child isn’t your qualifying relative. You
can’t claim this child as a dependent.
Medical insurance premiums. Medical insurance premiums you pay, including premiums for
supplementary Medicare coverage, are included in the support you provide.
Medical insurance benefits. Medical insurance benefits, including basic and supplementary Medicare benefits, aren’t part of support.
Tuition payments and allowances under the
GI Bill. Amounts veterans receive under the GI
Bill for tuition payments and allowances while
they attend school are included in total support.
Example. During the year, your child receives $2,200 from the government under the
GI Bill. Your child uses this amount for their education. You provide the rest of your child’s support—$2,000. Because GI benefits are included
in total support, your child’s total support is
$4,200 ($2,200 + $2,000). You haven’t provided
more than half of your child’s support.
Childcare expenses. If you pay someone to
provide child or dependent care, you can include these payments in the amount you provided for the support of your child or disabled dependent, even if you claim a credit for the
payments. For information on the credit, see
Pub. 503.
Other support items. Other items may be
considered as support depending on the facts
in each case.
Don’t Include in Total Support
The following items aren’t included in total support.
1. Federal, state, and local income taxes
paid by persons from their own income.
2. Social security and Medicare taxes paid
by persons from their own income.
3. Life insurance premiums.
4. Funeral expenses.
5. Scholarships received by your child if your
child is a student.
6. Survivors’ and Dependents’ Educational
Assistance payments used for the support
of the child who receives them.
Multiple Support Agreement
Sometimes no one provides more than half of
the support of a person. Instead, two or more
persons, each of whom would be able to claim
the person as a dependent but for the support
test, together provide more than half of the person’s support.
When this happens, you can agree that any
one of you who individually provides more than
10% of the person’s support, but only one, can
claim that person as a dependent. Each of the
others must sign a statement agreeing not to
claim the person as a dependent for that year.
The person who claims the person as a dependent must keep these signed statements for
their own records. A multiple support declaration identifying each of the others who agreed
not to claim the person as a dependent must be
attached to the return of the person claiming the
person as a dependent. Form 2120, Multiple
Support Declaration, can be used for this purpose.
You can claim someone as a dependent under a multiple support agreement for someone
related to you or for someone who lived with
you all year as a member of your household.
Example 1. You, and your siblings, Sam,
Bobbi, and Dani, provide the entire support of
your parent for the year. You provide 45%, Sam
provides 35%, and Bobbi and Dani each provide 10%. Either you or Sam can claim your parent as a dependent; the one who doesn’t must
sign a statement agreeing not to claim your parent as a dependent. The one who claims your
parent as a dependent must attach Form 2120,
or a similar declaration, to their return and must
keep the statement signed by the other for their
records. Because neither Bobbi nor Dani provides more than 10% of the support, neither can
claim your parent as a dependent and neither
has to sign a statement.
Example 2. You and your sibling each provide 20% of your parent’s support for the year.
The remaining 60% of your parent’s support is
provided equally by two persons who are unrelated. Your parent doesn’t live with them. Because more than half of your parent’s support is
provided by persons who can’t claim your parent as a dependent, no one can claim your parent as a dependent.
Example 3. Your parent lives with you and
receives 25% of their support from social security, 40% from you, 24% from a relative, and 11%
from a friend. Either you or the relative can
claim your parent as a dependent if the other
signs a statement agreeing not to. The one who
claims your parent as a dependent must attach
Form 2120, or a similar declaration, to your parent’s return and must keep for your parent’s records the signed statement from the one agreeing not to claim your parent as a dependent.
Support Test for Children of
Divorced or Separated Parents (or
Parents Who Live Apart)
In most cases, a child of divorced or separated
parents (or parents who live apart) will be a
21
qualifying child of one of the parents. See Children of divorced or separated parents (or parents who live apart) under Qualifying Child,
earlier. However, if the child doesn’t meet the
requirements to be a qualifying child of either
parent, the child may be a qualifying relative of
one of the parents. In that case, the following
rules must be used in applying the support test.
A child who doesn’t meet the requirements
to be a qualifying child of either parent will be
treated as the qualifying relative of the child’s
noncustodial parent if all four of the following
statements are true.
1. The parents:
a. Are divorced or legally separated under a decree of divorce or separate
maintenance;
b. Are separated under a written separation agreement; or
c. Lived apart at all times during the last
6 months of the year, whether or not
they are or were married.
2. The child received over half of the child’s
support for the year from the parents (and
the rules on multiple support agreements,
explained earlier, don’t apply).
3. The child is in the custody of one or both
parents for more than half of the year.
4. Either of the following statements is true.
a. The custodial parent signs a written
declaration, discussed later, that they
won’t claim the child as a dependent
for the year, and the noncustodial parent attaches this written declaration
to their return. (If the decree or agreement went into effect after 1984 and
before 2009, see Post-1984 and
pre-2009 divorce decree or separation agreement, later. If the decree or
agreement went into effect after 2008,
see Post-2008 divorce decree or separation agreement, later.)
b. A pre-1985 decree of divorce or separate maintenance or written separation agreement that applies to 2025
states that the noncustodial parent
can claim the child as a dependent,
the decree or agreement wasn’t
changed after 1984 to say the noncustodial parent can’t claim the child
as a dependent, and the noncustodial
parent provides at least $600 for the
child’s support during the year.
Custodial parent and noncustodial parent.
The custodial parent is the parent with whom
the child lived for the greater number of nights
during the year. The other parent is the noncustodial parent. The term “parent” means a biological or adoptive parent of an individual. It
doesn’t include a stepparent or foster parent unless that person has adopted the individual.
If the parents divorced or separated during
the year and the child lived with both parents
before the separation, the custodial parent is
the one with whom the child lived for the greater
number of nights during the rest of the year.
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A child is treated as living with a parent for a
night if the child sleeps:
• At that parent’s home, whether or not the
parent is present; or
• In the company of the parent, when the
child doesn’t sleep at a parent’s home (for
example, the parent and child are on vacation together).
Equal number of nights. If the child lived
with each parent for an equal number of nights
during the year, the custodial parent is the parent with the higher AGI.
December 31. The night of December 31 is
treated as part of the year in which it begins. For
example, the night of December 31, 2025, is
treated as part of 2025.
Emancipated child. If a child is emancipated under state law, the child is not under the
custody of either parent and time lived with a
parent after emancipation does not count for
purposes of determining who is the custodial
parent.
Absences. If a child wasn’t with either parent on a particular night (because, for example,
the child was staying at a friend’s house), the
child is treated as living with the parent with
whom the child normally would have lived for
that night. But if it can’t be determined with
which parent the child normally would have
lived or if the child wouldn’t have lived with either parent that night, the child is treated as not
living with either parent that night.
Parent works at night. If, due to a parent’s
nighttime work schedule, a child lives for a
greater number of days, but not nights, with the
parent who works at night, that parent is treated
as the custodial parent. On a school day, the
child is treated as living at the primary residence registered with the school.
Written declaration. The custodial parent
must use either Form 8332 or a similar statement (containing the same information required
by the form) to make the written declaration to
release a claim to an exemption for a child to
the noncustodial parent. Although the exemption amount is zero for tax year 2025, this release allows the noncustodial parent to claim
the child tax credit, credit for other dependents,
or additional child tax credit, if applicable,
based on the child being a qualifying child. The
noncustodial parent must attach a copy of the
form or statement to their tax return.
The release can be for 1 year, for a number
of specified years (for example, alternate
years), or for all future years, as specified in the
declaration.
Post-1984 and pre-2009 divorce decree
or separation agreement. If the divorce decree or separation agreement went into effect
after 1984 and before 2009, the noncustodial
parent may be able to attach certain pages from
the decree or agreement instead of Form 8332.
The decree or agreement must state all three of
the following.
1. The noncustodial parent can claim the
child as a dependent without regard to any
condition, such as payment of support.
2. The custodial parent won’t claim the child
as a dependent for the year.
3. The years for which the noncustodial parent, rather than the custodial parent, can
claim the child as a dependent.
The noncustodial parent must attach all of
the following pages of the decree or agreement
to their tax return.
• The cover page (write the other parent’s
SSN on this page).
• The pages that include all of the information identified in items (1) through (3)
above.
• The signature page with the other parent’s
signature and the date of the agreement.
Post-2008 divorce decree or separation
agreement. The noncustodial parent can’t attach pages from the decree or agreement to the
tax return instead of Form 8332 if the decree or
agreement went into effect after 2008. The custodial parent must sign either Form 8332 or a
similar statement the only purpose of which is to
release the custodial parent’s claim to an exemption, and the noncustodial parent must attach a copy to their return. The form or statement must release the custodial parent’s claim
to the child without any conditions. For example,
the release must not depend on the noncustodial parent paying support.
!
CAUTION
The noncustodial parent must attach
the required information even if it was
filed with a return in an earlier year.
Revocation of release of claim to an exemption. The custodial parent can revoke a release of claim to an exemption that they previously released to the noncustodial parent. For
the revocation to be effective for 2025, the custodial parent must have given (or made reasonable efforts to give) written notice of the revocation to the noncustodial parent in 2024 or
earlier. The custodial parent can use Part III of
Form 8332 for this purpose and must attach a
copy of the revocation to their return for each
tax year the custodial parent claims the child as
a dependent as a result of the revocation.
Remarried parent. If you remarry, the support
provided by your new spouse is treated as provided by you.
Child support under pre-1985 agreement.
All child support payments actually received
from the noncustodial parent under a pre-1985
agreement are considered used for the support
of the child.
Example. Under a pre-1985 agreement,
the noncustodial parent provides $1,200 for the
child’s support. This amount is considered support provided by the noncustodial parent even if
the $1,200 was actually spent on things other
than support.
Alimony. Payments to a spouse that are alimony or separate maintenance payments, or
similar payments from an estate or trust, aren’t
treated as a payment for the support of a dependent.
Parents who never married. This special rule
for divorced or separated parents also applies
Publication 501 (2025)
to parents who never married and lived apart at
all times during the last 6 months of the year.
Multiple support agreement. If the support of
the child is determined under a multiple support
agreement, this special support test for divorced or separated parents (or parents who
live apart) doesn’t apply.
Social Security Numbers
(SSNs) for Dependents
You must show the SSN of any dependent you
list in the Dependents section of your Form
1040 or 1040-SR.
If you don’t show the dependent’s SSN
when required or if you show an incorCAUTION rect SSN, certain tax benefits may be
disallowed.
!
No SSN. If a person whom you expect to claim
as a dependent on your return doesn’t have an
SSN, either you or that person should apply for
an SSN as soon as possible by filing Form
SS-5, Application for a Social Security Card,
with the Social Security Administration (SSA).
You can get Form SS-5 online at SSA.gov/
forms/ss-5.pdf or at your local SSA office.
It usually takes about 2 weeks to get an SSN
once the SSA has all the information it needs. If
you don’t have a required SSN by the filing due
date, you can file Form 4868, Application for
Automatic Extension of Time To File U.S. Individual Income Tax Return, for an extension of
time to file.
Born and died in 2025. If your child was
born and died in 2025, and you don’t have an
SSN for the child, you may attach a copy of the
child’s birth certificate, death certificate, or hospital records instead. The document must show
the child was born alive. If you do this, enter
“DIED” in row (3) of the Dependents section of
your Form 1040 or 1040-SR.
Alien or adoptee with no SSN. If your dependent doesn’t have and can’t get an SSN,
you must show the ITIN or adoption taxpayer
identification number (ATIN) instead of an SSN.
Taxpayer identification numbers for aliens. If your dependent is a resident or nonresident alien who doesn’t have and isn’t eligible to
get an SSN, your dependent must apply for an
ITIN. For details on how to apply, see Form
W-7, Application for IRS Individual Taxpayer
Identification Number.
Taxpayer identification numbers for
adoptees. If you have a child who was placed
with you by an authorized placement agency,
you may be able to claim the child as a dependent. However, if you can’t get an SSN or an ITIN
for the child, you must get an ATIN for the child
from the IRS. See Form W-7A, Application for
Taxpayer Identification Number for Pending U.S.
Adoptions, for details.
Standard Deduction
Most taxpayers have a choice of either taking a
standard deduction or itemizing their deductions. If you have a choice, you can use the
method that gives you the lower tax.
The standard deduction is a dollar amount
that reduces your taxable income. It is a benefit
that eliminates the need for many taxpayers to
itemize actual deductions, such as medical expenses, charitable contributions, and taxes, on
Schedule A (Form 1040). The standard deduction is higher for taxpayers who:
• Are 65 or older, or
• Are blind.
You benefit from the standard deduc-
TIP tion if your standard deduction is more
than the total of your allowable itemized
deductions.
Persons not eligible for the standard deduction. Your standard deduction is zero and
you should itemize any deductions you have if:
1. Your filing status is married filing separately, and your spouse itemizes deductions on their return;
2. You are filing a tax return for a short tax
year because of a change in your annual
accounting period; or
3. You are a nonresident or dual-status alien
during the year. You are considered a
dual-status alien if you were both a nonresident and resident alien during the year.
If you are a nonresident alien who is married to
a U.S. citizen or resident alien at the end of the
year, you can choose to be treated as a U.S.
resident (see Pub. 519). If you make this choice,
you can take the standard deduction.
If you can be claimed as a dependent
on another person’s return (such as
CAUTION your parents’ return), your standard deduction may be limited. See Standard Deduction for Dependents, later.
!
Standard Deduction Amount
The standard deduction amount depends on
your filing status, whether you are 65 or older or
blind, and whether another taxpayer can claim
you as a dependent. Generally, the standard
deduction amounts are adjusted each year for
inflation. The standard deduction amounts for
most people are shown in Table 6.
Decedent’s final return. The standard deduction for a decedent’s final tax return is the same
as it would have been had the decedent continued to live. However, if the decedent wasn’t 65
or older at the time of death, the higher standard deduction for age can’t be claimed.
Higher Standard Deduction for
Age (65 or Older)
If you are age 65 or older on the last day of the
year and don’t itemize deductions, you are entitled to a higher standard deduction. You are
Publication 501 (2025)
considered 65 on the day before your 65th birthday. Therefore, you can take a higher standard
deduction for 2025 if you were born before January 2, 1961.
Use Table 7 to figure the standard deduction
amount.
Death of taxpayer. If you are preparing a return for someone who died in 2025, consider
the taxpayer to be 65 or older at the end of 2025
only if the taxpayer was 65 or older at the time
of death. Even if the taxpayer was born before
January 2, 1961, the taxpayer isn’t considered
65 or older at the end of 2025 unless the taxpayer was 65 or older at the time of death.
A person is considered to reach age 65 on
the day before the person’s 65th birthday.
Higher Standard Deduction for
Blindness
If you are blind on the last day of the year and
you don’t itemize deductions, you are entitled to
a higher standard deduction.
Not totally blind. If you aren’t totally blind, you
must get a certified statement from an eye doctor (ophthalmologist or optometrist) stating that:
1. You can’t see better than 20/200 in the
better eye with glasses or contact lenses,
or
2. Your field of vision is 20 degrees or less.
If your eye condition isn’t likely to improve
beyond these limits, the statement should include this fact. Keep the statement in your records.
If your vision can be corrected beyond these
limits only by contact lenses that you can wear
only briefly because of pain, infection, or ulcers,
you can take the higher standard deduction for
blindness if you otherwise qualify.
Spouse 65 or Older or Blind
You can take the higher standard deduction if
your spouse is age 65 or older or blind and:
1. You file a joint return, or
2. You file a separate return and your spouse
had no gross income and can’t be claimed
as a dependent by another taxpayer.
Death of spouse. If your spouse died in 2025
before reaching age 65, you can’t take a higher
standard deduction because of your spo
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