What is the support test?

This is one of the four tests which must be met for a child to be claimed as a “qualifying child” and for you to therefore be entitled to take an exemption for them. This support test requires that the child must not have provided more than half of his or her own support during the calendar year. It does not matter whether you>/i> provided over half of their support during the year, just that the child did not provide his/her own support (and thus this differs from the support requirement for a “qualifying relative,” where you generally must provide a qualifying relative with more than half of their support).