How can you determine support for an incarcerated person? Does the goverment provide support? Situation: on a possible claim of head of household (a brother) paying house mortgage for inmate; can it be said that incarcerated is a dependent of his (meeting the unmarried status) on the relationship alone? Is it necessary to meet a support test; if so how do you determine financial figures on this? Is incarceration even if release date unknown a temporary absence?
The inmate would have had to live with his brother for more than six months and would have to be a dependent of his brother. As the government is providing all of his support, he could not be a dependent.
If he was incarcerated starting in the second half of the year, it's quite possible he lived with his brother more than half the year, and his brother provided more than half his support. (How would you calculate the amount the government paid for his support, anyway?)
You would use the fair rental value of a shared cell plus the state's cost of meals, clothing, education, medical and dental services, entertainment and security services. (:D
In reality, most states publish their cost per inmate. I don't have it handy, but it all goes into a federal database that is made public.
FMV deals with lodging. The other items are cost. If you can come up with a fair rental value of a shared cell that is less or more than the state's cost.. good luck to you.(:D
Well, I suppose that one could argue about some of these. While not a tax professional, to my layman's eyes it seems that:
Meals, clothing, medical care costs would be reasonable support costs.
The security services seem to be for the convenience of the state, not something done for the benefit of the inmate.
The fair market rental value of the cell is likely to be difficult to gauge. Considering some of the roommate issues, one could even argue the value is negative. How much would the ordinary person be willing to pay in order NOT to be in the prison cell? How much would you have to pay someone to stay there of their own free will, absent compulsion by court authority? I would think that the cost of maintaining the cell would not be FMV, given that one party to the transaction is not taking part of their own free will, but rather under quite strong compulsion.
That said, I don't think I would want to be the one to test any of these positions in (tax) court.
If inmate lived with brother more than 6 months, and if inmate is under age 19, or otherwise meets age test, and if inmate did not provide more than half his own support, + the state did they why wouldn't inmate be a qualifying child of brother?
One answer not given: How long is the sentence? If the sentence is 1 year or less, then I would call it a temporary absence. If it is a life sentence without the possibility of parole, then it is not a temporary absence. I would venture to say that the IRS would call a sentence in excess of two years before parole could be granted as a non-temporary absence - but remember the Tax Court's extension of "temporary" to mean in excess of a decade (in a slightly different context) from TC Memo 2003-232 - because any sentence less than life would mean that the convict would intend to return to society and probably to the residence he owns when entering prison (assuming he can retain ownership during the incarceration) - and thus his absence from his residence would be "temporary" in that he intends to return. (For the other experts, I am also basing this on the "change in tax home" revenue rulings as well.)
Others have already addressed the support issue of the State vs. the brother. I won't go there.
Watch out for any wages he does earn while an inmate and make certain that the wages (plus any other income outside of prison) don't exceed the dependency exemption amount.
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