M & F-in-law as dependants while waiting GC

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area51

Registered Users (C)
Anyone have this situation in prior tax years and want to share their experience?

In my case, Parents have been living with us more than 6 months in the USA
Waiting Greencard, We put in the mail end of August.
They had Employment authorization and they worked in December and received a couple of checks late last year.

Can / Should we declare them as dependents on our tax return?
It seems that would have the greatest tax savings if possible.
They haven't received GC yet, but have Social Security Numbers as of 12/2008.
Any other advice for filing their / our taxes?
 
Answering my own question if it helps others.

In my situation and in-laws status and income,
YES I can claim them as dependants.
I'll receive a credit of $3500 each on my taxes.

With the help of the IRS agents they said
in-laws are Resident Aliens for 2008
They can file form 1040EZ married filing jointly
and I can put them on my 1040 as dependants.

See IRS PUB 501, table #5
Overview of the Rules for Claiming an Exemption for a Dependent



Steps for you to find out if you can do the same.
I called the IRS help line,
Telephone Assistance for Individuals:
Toll-Free, 1-800-829-1040 Hours of Operation: Monday – Friday, 7:00 a.m. – 10:00 p.m. your local time (Alaska & Hawaii follow Pacific Time).

Spoke with about 4 departments, 6 or so employees.

After going through about 100 questions they finally determined the answer.
 
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