Dependents

• Children aren't the only people who can be claimed as dependents. According to the Internal Revenue Service, a dependent is any individual who is dependent on another taxpayer for more than half of his support for a given calendar year. This can include anyone related or unrelated to the taxpayer who has received more than half of his support from the taxpayer throughout the year, even if that person did not reside with the taxpayer during this time. Likewise, U.S. resident aliens, U.S. nationals and non U.S. citizens who reside in either Canada or Mexico may also qualify as dependents.
  
  

Exemption

• A dependent exemption is the amount of money you can claim on your tax return that reduces your overall tax liability. To claim someone who is unemployed as a dependent, she must have either lived with you during the tax year and or meet the minimum 50 percent support requirement. Likewise, she should not be married or claimed as a dependent on anyone else's tax return or have had a gross income greater than $3,650 for the 2010 tax year, which includes unemployment benefits. These conditions apply for each dependent claimed.
  
  

Finances

• If you wish to claim someone other than a minor child as a dependent, you are responsible for collecting and, if necessary, providing documentation that supports your claim. This may include purchase receipts, records of paid bills and bank transfers. If the unemployed person you are supporting also lives with you, you should both have the same mailing address, which means that any unemployment benefits should also be directed to your residence, as a record of benefits to another address could jeopardize your ability to claim this person as a dependent.
  
  

Filing

• Before you file your income tax return and claim a dependent, you should make sure that the unemployed person you want to claim has not already filed a tax return as an independent person or filed a joint return with anyone else, except to receive a full refund on taxes paid due to low income as a result of unemployment. If you are still uncertain whether or not you can claim an individual as a dependent, you should use the IRS' interactive tax assistant tool, which can quickly tell you if someone is eligible to be claimed and how much can be exempted.