This is your Member Reference Number (MRN). You’ll need to provide this when you make an appointment with an EAP counselor or contact your EAP by phone.

Carelon provides automatic translation into multiple languages, courtesy of Google Translate. This tool is provided for your convenience only. The English language version is considered the most accurate, and in the event of a discrepancy between the translations, the English version will prevail. This translation tool is not controlled by Carelon, and the Carelon Privacy Statement will not apply. Please read Google's privacy statement. If you want Google to translate the Carelon website, select a language.

Claiming an Unmarried Partner as a Dependent on Your Tax Return

To claim tax benefits for your dependent partner, there are fivetests your partner must pass.

If you financially support your partner (heterosexual or same-sex), you may be able to file a tax return as a single person and claim your partner as a dependent. To be able to do this legally, you must meet the following five tests.

Support. The supporting partner must provide at least 50% of the other partner's total support for the year. Support includes food, shelter, clothing, medical and dental care, education, entertainment, and just about any expense you can think of.

Citizen or resident. The supported person must be a U.S. citizen, resident alien, or citizen of Canada or Mexico.

Income. The supported person's taxable income cannot exceed $3,650. Nontaxable money, such as gifts, welfare benefits, and nontaxable Social Security benefits, don't count toward gross income.

Relationship. Under IRS regulations, a person who lived in your home for the entire year can be considered a dependent as long as the relationship does not violate local law. Our advice: If you meet the other four tests but may be violating the law in a state where fornication, cohabitation, or sodomy is still against the law, go ahead and claim your partner as a dependent anyway. Recent court decisions have made those laws questionable at best, and the worst that can happen is that the IRS won't allow your deduction and your tax bill will be recomputed without the deduction.

Unmarried person. If the supported person is married and files a joint tax return with a legal spouse, the supporting partner in this relationship cannot claim the supported person as a dependent. There's one exception: If the married couple did not earn enough to have to file a tax return and did so only to get a refund, the supporting partner can claim the dependent.

To learn more about laws affecting unmarried couples, get  Living Together: A Legal Guide for Unmarried Couples , by Ralph Warner, Toni Ihara, and Frederick Hertz (Nolo).

Nolo. (Reviewed 2016). Claiming an Unmarried Partner as a Dependent on Your Tax Return Retrieved 7/7/2016 from http://www.nolo.com/.

More about this Topics

  • Can a Tax Refund Affect SSI Eligibility?

  • What Employers Should Do After E-Verify Issues a Tentative Nonconfirmation for an Employee

  • Negligence Versus Tax Fraud: How Can the IRS Tell the Difference?

  • How to Form an LLC

  • Tax Deductions for Your Charitable Contributions and Volunteer Work

Other Topics

    • Canceled Mortgage Debt: What Happens at Tax Time?
    • Small Business Tax Debts: Dealing With the IRS
    • Filing and Paying Taxes Late
    • Pros and Cons of Appealing an IRS Audit
    • Which Type of Business Entity Needs an Employer Identification Number (EIN)?