Credit for Elderly or Disabled

Credit for Elderly or Disabled
Article ID: 33681

Answer

You can take the credit for the elderly or the disabled if you meet both of the following requirements.

• You are a qualified individual.

• Your income is not more than certain limits.

You can use Figure A and Table 1 as guides to see if you are eligible for the credit. Use Figure A first to see if you are a qualified individual. If you are, go to Table 1 to make sure your income is not too high to take the credit.

You can take the credit only if you file Form 1040 or Form 1040A. You cannot take the credit if you file Form 1040EZ or Form 1040NR.

Qualified Individual

You are a qualified individual for this credit if you are a U.S. citizen or resident alien, and either of the following applies.

You were age 65 or older at the end of 2014.
You were under age 65 at the end of 2014 and all three of the following statements are true.
1. You retired on permanent and total disability (explained later).
2. You received taxable disability income for 2014.
3. On January 1, 2014, you had not reached mandatory retirement age (defined later under Disability income ).

Age 65. You are considered to be age 65 on the day before your 65th birthday. As a result, if you were born on January 1, 1950, you are considered to be age 65 at the end of 2014.

U.S. Citizen or Resident Alien

You must be a U.S. citizen or resident alien (or be treated as a resident alien) to take the credit. Generally, you cannot take the credit if you were a nonresident alien at any time during the tax year.

Exceptions. You may be able to take the credit if you are a nonresident alien who is married to a U.S. citizen or resident alien at the end of the tax year and you and your spouse choose to treat you as a U.S. resident alien. If you make that choice, both you and your spouse are taxed on your worldwide incomes.

If you were a nonresident alien at the beginning of the year and a resident alien at the end of the year, and you were married to a U.S. citizen or resident alien at the end of the year, you may be able to choose to be treated as a U.S. resident alien for the entire year. In that case, you may be allowed to take the credit.

For information on these choices, see chapter 1 of Publication 519, U.S. Tax Guide for Aliens.

Married Persons

Generally, if you are married at the end of the tax year, you and your spouse must file a joint return to take the credit. However, if you and your spouse did not live in the same household at any time during the tax year, you can file either a joint return or separate returns and still take the credit.

Head of household. You can file as head of household and qualify to take the credit, even if your spouse lived with you during the first 6 months of the year, if you meet all the following tests.

You file a separate return.
You paid more than half the cost of keeping up your home during the tax year.
Your spouse did not live in your home at any time during the last 6 months of the tax year and the absence was not temporary. (See Temporary absences under Head of Household in Publication 501.)
Your home was the main home of your child, stepchild, or an eligible foster child for more than half the year. An eligible foster child is a child placed with you by an authorized placement agency or by judgment, decree, or other order of any court of competent jurisdiction.
You can claim an exemption for that child, or you cannot claim the exemption only because the noncustodial parent can claim the child using the rules for children of divorced or separated parents.

For more information, see Publication 501, Exemptions, Standard Deduction, and Filing Information.

Article Details

Created on: Jun 15, 2013