The IRS has announced that the applicable dollar amount used to calculate the fees imposed by Code Secs. 4375 and 4376 for policy and plan years that end on or after October 1, 2025, and before Oc...
A partnership (taxpayer) was denied a deduction for an easement donation related to a property (P1). The taxpayer claimed the deduction for the wrong year. Additionally, the taxpayer (1) substantially...
The IRS has provided relief under Code Sec. 7508A for persons determined to be affected by the terroristic action in the State of Israel throughout 2024 and 2025. Affected taxpayers have until Septe...
The IRS Independent Office of Appeals has launched a two-year pilot program to make Post Appeals Mediation (PAM) more attractive to taxpayers. Under the new PAM pilot, cases will be reassigned to an A...
The IRS has reminded taxpayers that emergency readiness has gone beyond food, water and shelter. It also includes safeguarding financial and tax documents. Families and businesses should review their ...
New Jersey updated its guidance regarding the corporation business tax research and development (R&D) credit. The revision addresses changes to the timing of deductions for qualifying R&D expe...
The New York Court of Appeals upheld the lower courts’ decisions granting a property tax exemption under RPTL 420-a to a church for two tax years, based on its exclusive use of the property for qual...
The IRS has announced penalty relief for the 2025 tax year relating to new information reporting obligations introduced under the One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA). The relief applies to penalties imposed under Code Secs. 6721 and 6722 for failing to file or furnish complete and correct information returns and payee statements.
The IRS has announced penalty relief for the 2025 tax year relating to new information reporting obligations introduced under the One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA). The relief applies to penalties imposed under Code Secs. 6721 and 6722 for failing to file or furnish complete and correct information returns and payee statements.
The OBBBA introduced new deductions for qualified tips and qualified overtime compensation, applicable to tax years beginning after December 31, 2024. These provisions require employers and payors to separately report amounts designated as cash tips or overtime, and in some cases, the occupation of the recipient. However, recognizing that employers and payors may not yet have adequate systems, forms, or procedures to comply with the new rules, the IRS has designated 2025 as a transition period.
For 2025, the Service will not impose penalties if payors or employers fail to separately report these new data points, provided all other information on the return or payee statement is complete and accurate. This relief applies to information returns filed under Code Sec. 6041 and to Forms W-2 furnished to employees under Code Sec. 6051. The IRS emphasized that this transition relief is limited to the 2025 tax year only and that full compliance will be required beginning in 2026 when revised forms and updated electronic reporting systems are available.
Although not mandatory, the IRS encourages employers to voluntarily provide separate statements or digital records showing total tips, overtime pay, and occupation codes to help employees determine eligibility for new deductions under the OBBBA. Employers may use online portals, additional written statements, or Form W-2 box 14 for this purpose.
The 2026 cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) that affect pension plan dollar limitations and other retirement-related provisions have been released by the IRS. In general, many of the pension plan limitations will change for 2026 because the increase in the cost-of-living index met the statutory thresholds that trigger their adjustment. However, other limitations will remain unchanged.
The 2026 cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) that affect pension plan dollar limitations and other retirement-related provisions have been released by the IRS. In general, many of the pension plan limitations will change for 2026 because the increase in the cost-of-living index met the statutory thresholds that trigger their adjustment. However, other limitations will remain unchanged.
The SECURE 2.0 Act (P.L. 117-328) made some retirement-related amounts adjustable for inflation. These amounts, as adjusted for 2026, include:
- The catch-up contribution amount for IRA owners who are 50 or older is increased from $1,000 to $1,100.
- The amount of qualified charitable distributions from IRAs that are not includible in gross income is increased from $108,000 to $111,000.
- The limit on one-time qualified charitable distributions made directly to a split-interest entity is increased from $54,000 to $55,000.
- The dollar limit on premiums paid for a qualifying longevity annuity contract (QLAC) remains $210,000.
Highlights of Changes for 2026
The contribution limit has increased from $23,500 to $24,500 for employees who take part in:
- 401 (k)
- 403 (b)
- most 457 plans, and
- the federal government’s Thrift Savings Plan
The annual limit on contributions to an IRA increased from $7,000 to $7,500.
The catch-up contribution limit for individuals aged 50 and over for employer retirement plans (such as 401(k), 403(b), and most 457 plans) has increased from $7,500 to $8,000.
The income ranges increased for determining eligibility to make deductible contributions to:
- IRAs,
- Roth IRAs, and
- to claim the Saver’s Credit.
Phase-Out Ranges
Taxpayers can deduct contributions to a traditional IRA if they meet certain conditions. The deduction phases out if the taxpayer or their spouse takes part in a retirement plan at work. The phase-out depends on the taxpayer’s filing status and income.
- For single taxpayers covered by a workplace retirement plan, the phase-out range is $81,000 to $91,000, up from $79,000 to $89,000.
- For joint filers, when the spouse making the contribution takes part in a workplace retirement plan, the phase-out range is $129,000 to $149,000, up from $126,000 to $146,000.
- For an IRA contributor who is not covered by a workplace retirement plan but their spouse is, the phase-out range is $242,000 to $252,000, up from $236,000 to $246,000.
- For a married individual filing separately who is covered by a workplace plan, the phase-out range remains $0 to $10,000.
The phase-out ranges for Roth IRA contributions are:
- $153,000 to $168,000 for singles and heads of household,
- $242,000 to $252,000 for joint filers,
- $0 to $10,000 for married separate filers.
Finally, the income limits for the Saver’s Credit are:
- $80,500 for joint filers,
- $60,375 for heads of household,
- $40,250 for singles and married separate filers.
The IRS released interim guidance and announced its intent to publish proposed regulations regarding the exclusion of interest on loans secured by rural or agricultural real property under Code Sec. 139L. Taxpayers may rely on the interim guidance in section 3 of the notice for loans made after July 4, 2025, and on or before the date that is 30 days after the publication of the forthcoming proposed regulations.
The IRS released interim guidance and announced its intent to publish proposed regulations regarding the exclusion of interest on loans secured by rural or agricultural real property under Code Sec. 139L. Taxpayers may rely on the interim guidance in section 3 of the notice for loans made after July 4, 2025, and on or before the date that is 30 days after the publication of the forthcoming proposed regulations.
Partial Exclusion of Interest
Code Sec 139L, as added by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (P.L. 119-21), provides for a partial exclusion of interest for certain loans secured by rural or agricultural real property. The amount excluded is 25 percent of the interest received by a qualified lender on a qualified real estate loan. A qualified lender will include 75 percent of the interest received on a qualified real estate loan in gross income. A qualified lender is not required to be the original holder of the loan on the issue date of the loan in order to exclude the interest under Code Sec 139L.
Qualified Real Estate Loan
A qualified real estate loan is secured by qualified rural or agricultural property only if, at the time that the interest accrues, the qualified lender holds a valid and enforceable security interest with respect to the property under applicable law. Subject to a safe harbor provision, the amount of a loan that is a qualified real estate loan is limited to the fair market value of the qualified rural or agricultural property securing the loan, as of the issue date of the loan. If the amount of the loan is greater than the fair market value of the property securing the loan, determined as of the issue date of the loan, only the portion of the loan that does not exceed the fair market value is a qualified real estate loan.
The safe harbor allows a qualified lender to treat a loan as fully secured by qualified rural or agricultural property if the qualified lender holds a valid and enforceable security interest with respect to the qualified rural or agricultural property under applicable law and the fair market value of the property security the loan is at least 80 percent of the issue price of the loan on the issue date.
Fair market value can be determined using any commercially reasonable valuation method. Subject to certain limitations, the fair market value of any personal property used in the course of the activities conducted on the qualified rural or agricultural property (such as farm equipment or livestock) can be added to the fair market value of the rural or agricultural real estate. The addition to fair market value may be made if a qualified lender holds a valid and enforceable security interest with respect to such personal property under applicable law and the relevant loan must be secured to a substantial extent by rural or agricultural real estate.
Use of the Property
The presence of a residence on qualified rural or agricultural property or intermittent periods of nonuse for reasons described in Code Sec. 139L(c)(3) does not prevent the property from being qualified rural or agricultural property so long as the the property satisfies the substantial use requirement.
Request for Comments
The Treasury Department and the IRS are seeking comments on the notice in general and on the following specific issues:
- The extent to which the forthcoming proposed regulations address the meaning of certain terms;
- The extent to which the forthcoming proposed regulations address whether property is substantially used for the production of one or more agricultural products or in the trade or business of fishing or seafood processing;
- The extent to which the forthcoming proposed regulations address how the substantial use requirement applies to properties with mixed uses;
- The manner in which the forthcoming proposed regulations address changes involving qualified rural or agricultural property following the issuance of a qualified real estate loan;
- The manner in which the forthcoming proposed regulations address how a qualified lender determines whether the loan remains secured by qualified rural or agricultural property;
- The extent to which the forthcoming proposed regulations address how Code Sec. 139L applies in securitization structures; and
- The extent to which the forthcoming proposed regulations address Code Sec. 139L(d), regarding the application of Code Sec. 265 to any qualified real estate loan.
Written comments should be submitted, either electronically or by mail, by January 20, 2026.
The IRShas provided a safe harbor for trusts that otherwise qualify as investment trusts under Reg. §301.7701-4(c) and as grantor trusts to stake their digital assets without jeopardizing their tax status as investment trusts and grantor trusts. The Service also provided a limited time period for an existing trust to amend its governing instrument (trust agreement) to adopt the requirements of the safe harbor.
The IRShas provided a safe harbor for trusts that otherwise qualify as investment trusts under Reg. §301.7701-4(c) and as grantor trusts to stake their digital assets without jeopardizing their tax status as investment trusts and grantor trusts. The Service also provided a limited time period for an existing trust to amend its governing instrument (trust agreement) to adopt the requirements of the safe harbor.
Background
Under “custodial staking,” a third party (custodian) takes custody of an owner’s digital assets and facilitates the staking of such digital assets on behalf of the owner. The arrangement between the custodian and the staking provider generally provides that an agreed-on portion of the staking rewards are allocated to the owner of the digital assets.
Business or commercial trusts are created by beneficiaries simply as a device to carry on a profit-making business that normally would have been carried on through a business organization classified as a corporation or partnership. An investment trust with a single class of ownership interests, representing undivided beneficial interests in the assets of the trust, is classified as a trust if there is no power under the trust agreement to vary the investments of the certificate holders.
Trust Arrangement
The revenue procedure applies to an arrangement formed as a trust that (i) would be treated as an investment trust, and as a grantor trust, if the trust agreement did not authorize staking and the trust’s digital assets were not staked, and (ii) with respect to a trust in existence before the date on which the trust agreement first authorizes staking and related activities in a manner that satisfies certain listed requirements, qualified as an investment trust, and as a grantor trust, immediately before that date. If the listed requirements (described below) are met, a trust's authorization in the trust agreement to stake its digital assets and the resulting staking of the trust's digital assets will, under the safe harbor, not prevent the trust from qualifying as an investment trust and as a grantor turst.
Requirements for Trust
The requirements for the safe harbor to apply are as follows:
- Interests in the trust must be traded on a national securities exchange and must comply with the SEC’s regulations and rules on staking activities.
- The trust must own only cash and units of a single type of digital asset under Code Sec. 6045(g)(3)(D).
- Transactions for the cash and units of digital asset must be carried out on a permissionless network that uses a proof-of-stake consensus mechanism to validate transactions.
- Trust’s digital assets must be held by a custodian acting on behalf of the trust at digital asset addresses controlled by the custodian.
- Only the custodian can effect a sale, transfer, or exercise the rights of ownership over said digital assets, including while those assets are staked.
- Staking of the trust's digital assets must protect and conserve trust property and mitigate the risk that another party could control a majority of the assets of that type and engage in transactions reducing the value of the trust’s digital assets.
- The trust’s activities relating to digital assets must be limited to (1) accepting deposits of the digital assets or cash in exchange for newly issued interests in the trust; (2) holding the digital assets and cash; (3) paying trust expenses and selling digital assets to pay trust expenses or redeem trust interests; (4) purchasing additional digital assets with cash contributed to the trust; (5) distributing digital assets or cash in redemption of trust interests; (6) selling digital assets for cash in connection with the trust's liquidation; and (7) directing the staking of the digital assets in a way that is consistent with national securities exchange requirements.
- The trust must direct the staking of its digital assets through custodians who facilitate the staking on the trust's behalf with one or more staking providers.
- The trust or its custodian must have no legal right to participate in or direct the activities of the staking provider.
- The trust's digital assets must generally be available to the staking provider to be staked.
- The trust's liquidity risk policies must be based solely on factors relating to national securities exchange requirements regarding redemption requests.
- The trust's digital assets must be indemnified from slashing due to the activities of staking providers.
- The only new assets the trust can receive as a result of staking are additional units of the single type of digital asset the trust holds.
Amendment to Trust
A trust may amend its trust agreement to authorize staking at any time during the nine-month period beginning on November 10, 2025. Such an amendment will not prevent a trust from being treated as a trust that qualifies as an investment trust under Reg. §301.7701-4(c) or as a grantor trust if the aforementioned requirements were satisfied.
Effective Date
This guidance is effective for tax years ending on or after November 10, 2025.
WASHINGTON – National Taxpayer Advocate Erin Collins told attendees at a recent conference that she wants to see the Taxpayer Advocate Service improve its communications with taxpayers and tax professionals.
WASHINGTON – National Taxpayer Advocate Erin Collins told attendees at a recent conference that she wants to see the Taxpayer Advocate Service improve its communications with taxpayers and tax professionals.
“What I would like to do is improve our responsiveness and communication with fill-in-the-blank, whether it be taxpayer or practitioner, because I think that is huge,” Collins told attendees November 18, 2025, at the American Institute of CPA’s National Tax Conference.
“I think a lot of my folks are working really hard to fix things, but they’re not necessarily communicating as fast and often as they should,” she continued. “So, I would like to see by year-end we’re in a position that that is a routine and not the exception.”
In tandem with that, Collins also told attendees she would like to see the IRS be quicker in terms of how it fixes issues. She pointed to the example of first-time abatement, something she called an “an amazing administrative relief for taxpayers” but one that is only available to those who know to ask for it.
She estimated that there are about one million taxpayers every year that are eligible to receive it and among those, most are lower income taxpayers.
The IRS, Collins noted, agreed a couple of years ago that this was a problem. “The challenge they had was how do they implement it through their systems?”
Collins was happy to report that those who qualify for first-time abatement will automatically be notified starting with the coming tax filing season, although she did not have any insight as to how the process would be implemented.
Patience
Collins also asked for patience from the taxpayer community in the wake of the recently-ended government shutdown, which has increased the TAS workload as TAS employees were not deemed essential and were furloughed during the shutdown.
She noted that TAS historically receives about 5,000 new cases a week and the shutdown meant the rank-and-file at TAS were not working. She said that the service did work to get some cases closed that didn’t require employee help.
“So, any of you who are coming in or have cases, please be patient,” Collins said. “Our guys are doing the best they can, but they do have, unfortunately, a backlog now coming in.”
By Gregory Twachtman, Washington News Editor
The IRS and Treasury have issued final regulations that implement the excise tax on stock repurchases by publicly traded corporations under Code Sec. 4501, introduced in the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. Proposed regulations on the computation of the tax were previously issued on April 12, 2024 (NPRM REG-115710-22) and final regulations covering the procedural aspects of the tax were issued on July 3, 2024 (T.D. 10002). Following public comments and hearings, the proposed computation regulations were modified and are now issued as final, along with additional changes to the final procedural regulations. The rules apply to repurchases made after December 31, 2022.
The IRS and Treasury have issued final regulations that implement the excise tax on stock repurchases by publicly traded corporations under Code Sec. 4501, introduced in the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. Proposed regulations on the computation of the tax were previously issued on April 12, 2024 (NPRM REG-115710-22) and final regulations covering the procedural aspects of the tax were issued on July 3, 2024 (T.D. 10002). Following public comments and hearings, the proposed computation regulations were modified and are now issued as final, along with additional changes to the final procedural regulations. The rules apply to repurchases made after December 31, 2022.
Overview of Code Sec. 4501
Code Sec. 4501 imposes a one percent excise tax on the fair market value of any stock repurchased by a “covered corporation”—defined as any domestic corporation whose stock is traded on an established securities market. The statute also covers acquisitions by “specified affiliates,” including majority-owned subsidiaries and partnerships. A “repurchase” includes redemptions under Code Sec. 317(b) and any transaction the Secretary determines to be economically similar. The amount subject to tax is reduced under a netting rule for stock issued by the corporation during the same tax year.
Scope and Definitions
The final regulations clarify the definition of stock, covering both common and preferred stock, with several exclusions. They exclude:
- Additional tier 1 capital not qualifying as common equity tier 1,
- Preferred stock under Code Sec. 1504(a)(4),
- Mandatorily redeemable stock or stock with enforceable put rights if issued prior to August 16, 2022,
- Certain instruments issued by Farm Credit System entities and savings and loan holding companies.
The IRS rejected requests to exclude all preferred stock or foreign regulatory capital instruments, limiting exceptions to U.S.-regulated issuers only.
Exempt Transactions and Carveouts
Several categories of transactions are excluded from the excise tax base. These include:
- Repurchases in connection with complete liquidations (under Code Secs. 331 and 332),
- Acquisitive reorganizations and mergers where the corporation ceases to be a covered corporation,
- Certain E and F reorganizations where no gain or loss is recognized and only qualifying property is exchanged,
- Split-offs under Code Sec. 355 are included unless the exchange is treated as a dividend,
- Reorganizations are excluded if shareholders receive only qualifying property under Code Sec. 354 or 355.
The IRS adopted a consideration-based test to determine whether the reorganization exception applies, disregarding whether shareholders actually recognized gain.
Application to Take-Private Transactions and M&A
The final rules clarify that leveraged buyouts, take-private deals, and restructurings that result in loss of public listing status are not considered repurchases for tax purposes. This reverses prior treatment under proposed rules, aligning with policy concerns that such deals are not akin to value-distribution schemes.
Similarly, cash-funded acquisitions and upstream mergers into parent companies are excluded where the repurchase is part of a broader ownership change plan.
Netting Rule and Timing Considerations
Under the netting rule, the amount subject to tax is reduced by the value of new stock issued during the tax year. This includes equity compensation to employees, even if unrelated to a repurchase program. The rule does not apply where a corporation is no longer a covered corporation at the time of issuance.
Stock is treated as repurchased on the trade date, and issuances are counted on the date the rights to stock are transferred. The IRS clarified that netting applies only to stock of the covered corporation and not to instruments issued by affiliates.
Foreign Corporations and Surrogates
The excise tax also applies to certain acquisitions by specified affiliates of:
- Applicable foreign corporations, i.e., foreign entities with publicly traded stock,
- Covered surrogate foreign corporations, as defined under Code Sec. 7874.
Where such affiliates acquire stock from third parties, the tax is applied as if the affiliate were a covered corporation, but limited only to shares issued by the affiliate to its own employees. These provisions prevent U.S.-parented multinational groups from circumventing the tax through offshore affiliates.
Exceptions Under Code Sec. 4501(e)
The six statutory exceptions remain intact:
- Reorganizations with no gain/loss under Code Sec. 368(a);
- Contributions to employer-sponsored retirement or ESOP plans;
- De minimis repurchases under $1 million per tax year;
- Dealer transactions in the ordinary course of business;
- Repurchases by RICs and REITs;
- Repurchases treated as dividends under the Code.
The IRS expanded the RIC/REIT exception to cover certain non-RIC mutual funds regulated under the Investment Company Act of 1940 if structured as open-end or interval funds.
Reporting and Administrative Requirements
Taxpayers must report repurchases on Form 720, Quarterly Federal Excise Tax Return. Recordkeeping, filing, and payment obligations are governed by Part 58, Subpart B of the regulations. The procedural rules also address:
- Applicable filing deadlines;
- Corrections for adjustments and refunds;
- Return preparer obligations under Code Secs. 6694 and 6695.
These provisions codify prior guidance issued in Notice 2023-2 and reflect technical feedback from tax professionals and stakeholders.
Applicability Dates
The final rules apply to:
- Stock repurchases occurring after December 31, 2022;
- Stock issuances during tax years ending after December 31, 2022;
- Procedural compliance starting with returns due after publication in the Federal Register.
Corporations may rely on Notice 2023-2 for transactions before April 12, 2024, and either the proposed or final regulations thereafter, provided consistency is maintained.
Takeaways
The final regulations narrow the excise tax’s reach to align with Congressional intent: discouraging opportunistic buybacks that return capital to shareholders outside traditional dividend mechanisms. By excluding structurally transformative M&A transactions, debt-like preferred stock, and regulated financial instruments, the IRS attempts to strike a balance between tax enforcement and market practice.
Some individuals must pay estimated taxes or face a penalty in the form of interest on the amount underpaid. Self-employed persons, retirees, and nonworking individuals most often must pay estimated taxes to avoid the penalty. But an employee may need to pay them if the amount of tax withheld from wages is insufficient to cover the tax owed on other income. The potential tax owed on investment income also may increase the need for paying estimated tax, even among wage earners.
Some individuals must pay estimated taxes or face a penalty in the form of interest on the amount underpaid. Self-employed persons, retirees, and nonworking individuals most often must pay estimated taxes to avoid the penalty. But an employee may need to pay them if the amount of tax withheld from wages is insufficient to cover the tax owed on other income. The potential tax owed on investment income also may increase the need for paying estimated tax, even among wage earners.
The trick with estimated taxes is to pay a sufficient amount of estimated tax to avoid a penalty but not to overpay. The IRS will refund the overpayment when you file your return, but it will not pay interest on it. In other words, by overpaying tax to the IRS, you are in essence choosing to give the government an interest-free loan rather than invest your money somewhere else and make a profit.
When do I make estimated tax payments?
Individual estimated tax payments are generally made in four installments accompanying a completed Form 1040-ES, Estimated Tax for Individuals. For the typical individual who uses a calendar tax year, payments generally are due on April 15, June 15, and September 15 of the tax year, and January 15 of the following year (or the following business day when it falls on a weekend or other holiday).
Am I required to make estimated tax payments?
Generally, you must pay estimated taxes in 2012 if (1) you expect to owe at least $1,000 in tax after subtracting tax withholding (if you have any) and (2) you expect your withholding and credits to be less than the smaller of 90 percent of your 2012 taxes or 100 percent of the tax on your 2011 return. There are special rules for higher income individuals.
Usually, there is no penalty if your estimated tax payments plus other tax payments, such as wage withholding, equal either 100 percent of your prior year's tax liability or 90 percent of your current year's tax liability. However, if your adjusted gross income for your prior year exceeded $150,000, you must pay either 110 percent of the prior year tax or 90 percent of the current year tax to avoid the estimated tax penalty. For married filing separately, the higher payments apply at $75,000.
Estimated tax is not limited to income tax. In figuring your installments, you must also take into account other taxes such as the alternative minimum tax, penalties for early withdrawals from an IRA or other retirement plan, and self-employment tax, which is the equivalent of Social Security taxes for the self-employed.
Suppose I owe only a relatively small amount of tax?
There is no penalty if the tax underpayment for the year is less than $1,000. However, once an underpayment exceeds $1,000, the penalty applies to the full amount of the underpayment.
What if I realize I have miscalculated my tax before the year ends?
An employee may be able to avoid the penalty by getting the employer to increase withholding in an amount needed to cover the shortfall. The IRS will treat the withheld tax as being paid proportionately over the course of the year, even though a greater amount was withheld at year-end. The proportionate treatment could prevent penalties on installments paid earlier in the year.
What else can I do?
If you receive income unevenly over the course of the year, you may benefit from using the annualized income installment method of paying estimated tax. Under this method, your adjusted gross income, self-employment income and alternative minimum taxable income at the end of each quarterly tax payment period are projected forward for the entire year. Estimated tax is paid based on these annualized amounts if the payment is lower than the regular estimated payment. Any decrease in the amount of an estimated tax payment caused by using the annualized installment method must be added back to the next regular estimated tax payment.
Determining estimated taxes can be complicated, but the penalty can be avoided with proper attention. This office stands ready to assist you with this determination. Please contact us if we can help you determine whether you owe estimated taxes.
The dependency exemption is a valuable deduction that may be lost in many situations simply because some basic rules for qualification are not followed. Classifying someone as a dependent can also entitle you to other significant deductions or credits. Here is a rundown of some of the rules and their implications.
Exemptions reduce your adjusted gross income. There are two types of exemptions: personal exemptions and exemptions for dependents. For each exemption you can deduct $3,800 on your 2012 tax return. In computing the amount to be withheld from an employee's wages, the employee is entitled to an allowance equal to the exemption amount used to calculate the personal exemption deduction. On a joint return, you may claim one personal exemption for yourself and one for your spouse. If you're filing a separate return, you may claim the exemption for your spouse only if he or she had no gross income, is not filing a joint return, and was not the dependent of another taxpayer.
Exemptions for dependents. You generally can take an exemption for each of your dependents. A dependent is your qualifying child or qualifying relative. In some circumstances, even an aged parent who lives with you may qualify. No personal exemption is allowed for a dependent or any other individual unless the taxpayer identification number (TIN) of that individual is included on the return claiming the exemption. The TIN generally must be a social security number (SSN).
Support test. A qualifying child must not have provided more than one-half of his or her own support during the calendar year in which the taxpayer's tax year begins. In contrast, the taxpayer must provide at least one-half of a qualifying relative's support in order to claim the relative as a dependent.
As of the close of the calendar year in which the taxpayer's tax year begins, a qualifying child must not have attained the age of 19, or must be a student who has not attained the age of 24. This age test does not apply to a child who is permanently and totally disabled at any time during the calendar year in which the taxpayer's tax year begins. A student for this purpose is an individual who, during each of five calendar months of the calendar year in which the taxpayer's tax year begins, is a full-time student at an educational organization, or is pursuing a full-time course of instructional on-farm training. This five-month rules generally enables most parent of college students graduating in May to take their child as an exemption "one last time."
An adoptive parent in the process of a domestic adoption who has custody of the child pending the final adoption and who provides enough financial support during the year is entitled to claim a dependency exemption for the child.
Possible downsides of being a dependent. If someone else - such as your parent - claims you as a dependent, you may not claim your personal exemption on your own tax return. Further, some people cannot be claimed as your dependent. Generally, you may not claim a married person as a dependent if they file a joint return with their spouse. Also, to claim someone as a dependent, that person must be a U.S. citizen, U.S. resident alien, U.S. national or resident of Canada or Mexico for some part of the year. There is an exception to this rule for certain adopted children.
An individual who qualifies as another taxpayer's dependent cannot claim any amount for a personal exemption, even if the individual files a return and the other taxpayer does not actually claim the individual as a dependent. For instance, in a court case in which a college student filed his own return, he was not entitled to any deduction for his personal exemption because he also qualified as his parent's dependent, even though they did not actually claim his exemption.
Ancillary benefits. As discussed, a dependent cannot file joint returns or claim dependency exemptions. In addition, a dependent who is a qualifying relative cannot have income in excess of the annual exemption amount. However, these restrictions do not apply to a person's classified as dependents for several other tax items. If a person would qualify as a dependent but for filing a joint return, claiming dependency exemptions, or having gross income in excess of the exemption amount, the person is nonetheless treated as a dependent for the following purposes (not a complete list):
- the taxpayer's head-of-household filing status;
- the exception from the early distribution penalty for qualified retirement plan distributions used to pay health insurance premiums for an unemployed taxpayer's dependents;
- the exclusion from income of amounts received under accident and health insurance plans;
- the definition of a highly compensated participant for purposes of cafeteria plans;
- the exception from the rules that allow certain amounts paid to maintain a student in the taxpayer's home to qualify as deductible charitable contributions;
- the deduction for medical expenses incurred by the taxpayer's dependent;
- the exclusion for distributions from an Archer medical savings account (MSA) that are used to pay a dependent's medical expenses;
- the rules governing the deduction for qualified student loan interest; and the treatment of educational and medical indebtedness in calculating the value of a decedent's qualified family-owned business interests for purposes of the estate tax.
As you may gather, the rules associated with the dependency exemption can get complex rather quickly. If you need any assistance in sorting out any dependency exemption or related benefits, please you do hesitate to contact this office.
