Who can be claimed as a dependent? What are the rules? Well, it can depend on several things like: the person's age, relationship to taxpayer, where the person lives, their income, whether in school, what a divorce decree says...
To Learn about who can be a Qualifying Child & Qualifying Relative for tax purposes and possible credits click image for PDF
or this link for PowerPoint presentation 
Again, Use Your Tools!!  PUB 4012 Tab-C
PUB 4012 is available online --search for PUB 4012 in Google or follow this link: irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p4012.pdf
PUB 4012 gets updated online in October and updated print copies are available in print early-mid November 
Filing Status & Dependency Practice
Dependency & Credits Quiz Shared by another VITA program--These are great, Thank you Bill! (answers below)
More practice scenarios
Click here to see answers to the above questions-- 
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AARP'S TCE Tax program has some marvelous resources. One of them is their Decision Tree for Determining Tax Credits.  (multiple pages and trees) A fantabulous resource shared with me by several wonderful AARP volunteers who wanted me to share with you!

**Make sure you ALWAYS start from page 1 and follow charts in order as directed)

The following is More resources on Dependents if you are interested...

From IRS' The How's of Taxes--interactive training/practice 
Picture
From IRS  PUB 4491 covers tax Law for the VITA/TCE volunteer 
  • Link & Learn interactive training modules  for Dependents -updated mid-November usually-- -click image on right
 
Topics like this one are pretty much the same year after year and can be reviewed anytime.
IRS's Interactive Tax Assistance
(Whom may I claim as a Dependent?)
 Online Dependency Qualification Calculator
​(Click on image below)
from Colorado Tax Aide
Prosperity Now's Taxpayer Opportunity Network (TON) has some helpful resources; slide shows and quizzes that you might find helpful. Click the image for heir training.
From Lancaster VITA--informative training Video
Helpful documents-- Did your client's return reject because their dependent was already claimed by someone else on a return? If your client has the right to claim the dependent, then you have to paper-file the return. I suggest including supporting documents to show they have a right to claim the dependent or else when the IRS gets the return, they key it, they see the dependent was already claimed, they will eventually send a letter and ask for the same information from both parties-- try to speed up the process as much as you can by being pro-active (and keep a set of everything sent in in case they ask for it again). Click images to get current PDF from IRS.gov (if this dependent is used for HOH filing status, visit that page to get supporting doc list for HOH filing status). There are similar supporting documents lists on the credit webpage-- for EITC and Child Tax Credits. There is also a document for American Opportunity Credit on the education credit page.
**Disregard the Year on the form--the IRS doesn't update them very often--just use the form as a guide--cross out the year.
Remember your PUB 4012  is your 'Bible'-please refer to it, get familiar with it both in print and online. PUB 4012 and PUB 4491 should be your go to guide for tax questions.
​*As always, if you see an error or have a suggestion, please let me know. I am human, I make mistakes, and I am in no way a tax expert. 
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You can contact me at maryvitataxes@gmail.com 
Please note: I, Mary Meador, AM NOT a certified accountant or tax law expert. I volunteer with VITA providing free tax preparation for individuals and families whose income is less than $66,000 a year. We deal with simple returns at our sites.  I cannot guarantee the accuracy of all the information on this site as tax laws change and I may not have a clear understanding of complicated issues. I am trying to provide basic tax preparation information for our volunteers to get started--remember Publication 4012 is your go-to resource for questions, as well as irs.gov and Publication 17.  I hope you find this information useful and easy to understand. Thanks for being a VITA/TCE volunteer!​