Dear Tax Talk,
My life partner and I have been living together for more than five years. She is a full-time student and is not working. I have been depositing money into her checking account so that she can pay for her medical insurance and bills. She has multiple sclerosis, so her medical bills can be significant. Will I be able to claim her as a dependent on my 2008 taxes? Will I be able to claim her medical bills as a deduction on my return? If so, what are the guidelines?-- Emily
Dear Emily,
The federal government does not recognize cohabitation as a relationship, and we all know how it feels about gay marriage. However, an individual can claim another person as a dependent regardless of relationship if certain criteria are met.
1. Your partner must be a member of your household for the entire year and your relationship must not violate local law. Dependency rules for relatives usually require that the person live with you for more than half of the year.
When the dependent is unrelated, the rules require that the dependent live with you from the beginning of the year until the end. Temporary absences are not counted. I don't know of any case in which the IRS has challenged a dependency exemption on the grounds of local law, and I doubt very much that it would want to get into that issue.
