What is the dependent gross income limit?

Which people the limit applies to

Publication 501 splits dependents into qualifying children and qualifying relatives. The gross income test is one of the four qualifying relative tests. A qualifying child has five other tests (relationship, age, residency, support and joint return) and no gross income limit. The Table 2 caution gives the practical result: if a person's gross income was $5,200 or more, you usually cannot claim them as a dependent unless they are a qualifying child. A college student who earns $9,000 can therefore still be a qualifying child, whereas a parent with $9,000 of taxable pension income cannot be a qualifying relative.

What counts as gross income

Gross income is all income in the form of money, property and services that is not exempt from tax. The publication gives specifics. In a manufacturing, merchandising or mining business it is net sales minus the cost of goods sold, plus miscellaneous income from the business. Gross receipts from rental property are gross income, and you do not deduct taxes, repairs or other expenses. A partner's share of the gross, not net, partnership income is included. Taxable unemployment compensation, taxable social security benefits and certain scholarship and fellowship amounts are included. Scholarships received by degree candidates and used for tuition, fees, supplies, books and equipment required for courses are generally not included.

What does not count, and why it still matters

Income that is exempt from tax, such as nontaxable social security, is not gross income, so it does not push a parent toward $5,200. But the same money can count on the other test: tax-exempt income that a person spends on their own support is part of total support, which makes it harder for you to provide more than half. A dependent can therefore pass the gross income test and still fail the support test. The parent dependent page shows how the two tests work together.

The sheltered workshop exception

The gross income of a person who is permanently and totally disabled at any time during the year does not include income for services at a sheltered workshop. The availability of medical care must be the main reason for being there, and the income must come only from activities at the workshop that are incident to this medical care. A sheltered workshop is a school that provides special instruction or training designed to alleviate the disability, and is operated by certain tax-exempt organizations or by a state, a territory, a political subdivision, the United States or the District of Columbia.

Worked example

Your retired parent receives a taxable pension of $3,100 and has a rental room with $2,500 of rent collected and $2,000 of expenses. Net rental profit is $500, but the test uses gross receipts, so gross income is $3,100 plus $2,500, which is $5,600. That is above $5,200, so the parent fails the gross income test and cannot be claimed as your qualifying relative. Had the pension been $2,600, gross income would be $5,100 and the parent would pass the gross income test, though the support test would still have to be met. Put numbers in the box above to test your own.

How it fits with the other tests

Passing the gross income test is one of four steps. The person must also not be your qualifying child or the qualifying child of any other taxpayer, must be a listed relative or live with you all year, and you must provide more than half of their support. The publication's example shows how the tests connect: a friend with $8,000 of wages who claims the earned income credit is not your qualifying relative because of the gross income test, and the friend's child is the friend's qualifying child, so you cannot claim the child as a relative either. Where the friend has only $1,500 of wages and files just to get withheld tax back, both can be your qualifying relatives if the support test is met.

Do not confuse this with the filing requirement

A dependent's own duty to file a return is a different question, answered by Table 2 of the publication. For a single dependent under 65 and not blind, the return is required if unearned income is over $1,350, earned income is over $15,750, or gross income is more than the larger of $1,350 or earned income (up to $15,300) plus $450. A dependent can owe a return without failing the $5,200 test, and vice versa. The gross income for filing page covers that threshold.

Sources

• IRS Publication 501, Dependents, Standard Deduction, and Filing Information (2025): Dependents (Table 5; Table 2 caution); Qualifying Relative (Gross Income Test; Sheltered workshop); Support Test (Tax-exempt income); Who Must File (Gross income, Table 2). Read November 2, 2026.

Edition read: Publication 501 (2025), for use in preparing 2025 returns. Dollar limits and dates in this publication are for 2025; check the current publication and form instructions for your tax year. This page summarizes the publication and does not replace it.