Claim siblings for 2010 taxes?

Assuming your siblings are younger than you and otherwise meet the qualifications of being a qualifying child (age, residency, support, etc.), either you or your mother can claim your siblings. Under the tax code, your mother has a superior claim since she is the parent. If your mother wants to claim your siblings (though I don't know why she would) she is allowed to do so and you cannot. If your mother chooses not to claim your siblings, under the special test for qualifying child of more than one person you should be able to claim both of your siblings as a qualifying child with little problem. There could be an audit, but you look sound to me.

There is an exception to the $3650 rule for income that disabled person receive working in a sheltered workshop. There is no exception to the $3650 rule for a "qualifying relative" when the income is UI benefits. The $3650 rule does not apply if your mother is your "qualifying child" (which might be theoretically possible if you were older than your "mother" and there was some convoluted situation involving stepparents, adoption, etc., but I tend to doubt that is what happened.)

Claiming more than one dependent is not unusual and usually does not cause an audit if (1) you are an adult, (2) both dependents are children, and (3) no one else tries to claim the same dependents.

It might make sense to rework the numbers so that you can say you paid 50.001% and she paid 49.999%, instead of 50.000-50.000. There is no way to prove or disprove a 0.001% difference and claiming that you paid over 50% and claiming a dependent may allow you to file as "HOH" instead of "single".

If you both claimed HofH last year (I'm guessing maybe you did from your comment about keeping expenses 50-50) then you both filed illegally. HofH requires that you pay MORE THAN half the expenses - if you kept it 50-50, neither of you paid MORE than half.

That said, you can very possibly claim your siblings this year if they're both younger than you, but NOT your mom, no there is no exception to the $3650 income. And just because you claimed your sis last year doesn't mean you don't get questioned this year.

There should be no reason for you not to take the siblings on your taxes. Be sure that your mother does not claim them. If she has only unemployment income, that is not considered earned income and therefore would not be able to get the earned income credit or child tax credits. So Absolutely claim the kids and get the credits if you can qualify for them.

I pray that things get better for you in 2011

The IRS changed the rules in 2005 and updated those changes later.

In order for you to claim one or more siblings, you had to be *older* than your sibling (you were) *and* have higher income than your mom. This is in ADDITION to living with mom and sis all year.

By the way, splitting costs 50/50 means neither you nor your mom will be eligible for HOH filing status.

qualifying children are those directly related to you, under your age, you are providing more than 50% of their support and the resided in your household 6 months

your siblings are not a problem

picking out returns due to the number of dependents is not one of the 'difs' used to determine which return will be audited

the qualifying relative rule is set in stone, no exceptions