I provide care to my Mother who receives SS benefit. Can my husband claim her on taxes?

Lynn, the majority of grown children are not paid for taking care of their parents unless the parent can pay that grown child a salary for their care. If your Mom can do that, you would need to set up an employment agreement... or your Mom can contribute to some of the utilities.

My Dad is now moving into a "home" because he feels he can no longer keep up his large home and the stairs are now too difficult for him. He now will have an apartment which has cable TV.... he's so excited about that because in the past he never wanted to pay for cable :)

We promise a parent that they will never move into a "home", but that promise was usually made back when Mom or Dad was still mobile, had no memory problem, was still driving and doing their own grocery shopping. We, as grown children, could not back then visualize our parent being elderly with everything that comes long with being elderly.

As mentioned above, you can only deduct Mom as a "dependent" if you pay more than half of her care. Check with the IRS website for more answers on this.

Lynn, your mother is at home receiving care. How are you paying for her medical necessities? Do you have someone coming in to help her. I ask because there is a program called PACE for low-income seniors who are aging in place. It might be worth looking into if you haven't already. It may help you save enough to pay for the cable bill so your mother can watch Food Network.

Lynn, sorry it is so difficult. There are certain rules for deciding if someone can qualify as a dependent on federal taxes. They have to receive at least half of their support from you and cannot make over $4000 a year. If your mother receives a typical SS check payment, chances are that she will make over that amount, so cannot qualify.

You should be pooling your finances to meet your ezpenses. What is wrong with your mother contributing toward the household expenses with her SSI? Utility companies do not care who makes the payments on the bill.