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My mother in law will be coming here soon from her home country. She is not going to be coming through the united nations, she is simply going to be here on a US Visa - based on a process my wife filed to get her here. Its an immigrant visa based on her daughter (my wife) filling out the form I-130 (petition for Alien Relative).

From my own tax purposes since she will be eating/drinking, living with us, as well as using our utilities. This means I am responsible for her. Should I expect to enter any of this information on my taxes (can I) or should I simply update the number of people I claim on my paycheck?

I already am claiming my wife and my kids and was wondering if it makes sense to up it by one or whether there may be some tax advantages for me?

My mother in law has the following visa type: IR5 - PARENT OF US CITIZEN

JonH
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2 Answers2

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There are lots of "ifs" with regarding claiming someone as a dependent. TurboTax has a pretty good breakdown here.

However, the biggest qualification is:

The person must be a U.S. citizen, a U.S. national, a U.S. resident, or a resident of Canada or Mexico.

Therefore, as a result you cannot claim your mother as a dependent until she fulfills that requirement.

As for withholding more on your paychecks, that is up to you. An individual can claim any number they want on the W-4. However, when you do your taxes and you've claimed too much, that's when you have to pay taxes.

Update: After researching it appears that the I-130 form is used only to establish relationship between the US Citizen and the alien relative. It does NOT permit entrance or residence in the US. However, after the form I-130 form is approved, you can start the immigration process by applying for a visa. It sounds like your mother-in-law was already approved for a visa. On the immigrant visa form, you can elect to receive a Social Security Number - which you'll need (or a ITIN) for when you claim her as a dependent.

Bottom line, once she arrives in the US, you can claim her on your taxes as a dependent provided you meet the other qualifications (see link above).

You could also consult a CPA or immigration attorney for more credible advice.

Michael
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When your mother-in-law enters the US with a US immigrant visa, she will immediately at that instant become a US permanent resident, and she will immediately pass the Green Card Test to be a US resident alien for tax purposes. (Though the First Year of Residency rules may apply to render her a resident for only the part of the year after she arrived. But if she is married, she can choose to file jointly and she and her spouse will be treated as residents for the whole year.)

As to whether you can claim her as a dependent, that also depends on other factors, such as whether her income that year is less than $4000, and whether you provided more than half of her support that year.

user102008
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