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I visited my former classmate John a couple months ago. We went to the United States International University in San Diego about 10 years ago. We both enrolled into the MBA program at the time. He was there for just one semester and left for LA. He managed to pass all the exams and got his CPA license a couple years ago.

We talked about the old time when we drive a run down Honda Civic around to look for part time job together. Tha

t was certainly a lot memory I could talk about later. I told him my mom was visiting me from China and he asked how long she was going to stay. I told him she would probably stay for half a year.

John told me if my mom stayed in the US for half a year I could apply a tax identification number for her and then I could claim my mom as my dependent when I filed tax return. That was valid even though my mom was holding traveling visa. It could potential save me a thousand tax dollars. I dig into that a little bit. IRS publication 501 says you can claim an exemption for a qualifying child or qualifying relative. Obviously my mom is potentially my qualifying relative. In order for her to be my qualifying relative the following four tests have to be met:

1. Not a qualifying child test. Obviously this is going to be met
2. Member of household or relationship test. To meet this test a person much either live with you all year as a member of your household or be related to you in one of the way listed under relatives who do not have to live with you. Mother, father, brother and sister are all listed. Obviously my mom met this test
3. Gross income test. My mom has no income in the US and her retirement income in China is way less than $3,300. Obviously this test is met also
4. Support Test. To meet this test, you generally must provide more than half of a person’s total support during the calendar year. Obviously this going to be met if my mom stayed with me for half year.

My problem was my mom only stayed with me for 156 days so she didn’t met the last test. I wish I know that earlier. I could ask my mom to stay with me a month longer. That is one thousand dollars easy money.

Additional Source:
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p519.pdf
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p501.pdf