YORK, Pa. (AdAge.com) -- The beer you drink says a lot about you -- even before you've had a few too many. Your choice of beer can be as telling about your personality as what kind of clothing you wear or the car that you drive.
In fact, your support must be at least half of the cost of what it takes to keep her comfortable. That cost includes any money spent on items as various as food, shelter, clothing, and medical care. If your support is not at least 50% of the total, you cannot claim your parent as your dependent.
See the Support Test Form for a form you can use to determine whether you provided more than half the dependent's total support for the entire year. In addition, a taxpayer cannot claim a person as a dependent if the person can be claimed as a dependent on another taxpayer's return. A dependent cannot claim his or her personal exemption if another taxpayer is entitled to do so. Special circumstances: Kidnapped children.