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Child in Canada or Mexico. You may be able to claim your child as a dependent even if the child lives in Canada or Mexico. If the child does not live with you, the child does not meet the residency test to be your qualifying child. However, the child may still be your qualifying relative. If the persons the child does live with are not U.S. citizens and have no U.S. gross in­ come, those persons are not “taxpayers,” so the child is not the qualifying child of any other tax­ payer. If the child is not the qualifying child of any other taxpayer, the child is your qualifying relative as long as the gross income test and the support test are met. You cannot claim as a dependent a child who lives in a foreign country other than Can­ ada or Mexico, unless the child is a U.S. citizen, U.S. resident alien, or U.S. national. There is an exception for certain adopted children who lived with you all year. See Citizen or Resident Test, earlier. Example. You provide all the support of your children, ages 6, 8, and 12, who live in Mexico with your mother and have no income. You are single and live in the United States. Your mother is not a U.S. citizen and has no U.S. income, so she is not a “taxpayer.” Your children are not your qualifying children be­ cause they do not meet the residency test. But since they are not the qualifying children of any other taxpayer, they are your qualifying relatives and you can claim them as dependents. You may also be able to claim your mother as a de­ pendent if the gross income and support tests are met. Member of Household or Relationship Test To meet this test, a person must either: 1. Live with you all year as a member of your household, or 2. Be related to you in one of the ways listed under Relatives who do not have to live with you. If at any time during the year the person was your spouse, that person cannot be your quali­ fying relative. However, see Personal Exemp- tions, earlier. Relatives who do not have to live with you. A person related to you in any of the following ways does not have to live with you all year as a member of your household to meet this test. Your child, stepchild, foster child, or a de­ scendant of any of them (for example, your grandchild). (A legally adopted child is considered your child.) Your brother, sister, half brother, half sis­ ter, stepbrother, or stepsister. Your father, mother, grandparent, or other direct ancestor, but not foster parent. Your stepfather or stepmother. A son or daughter of your brother or sister. A son or daughter of your half brother or half sister. A brother or sister of your father or mother. Your son­in­law, daughter­in­law, fa­ ther­in­law, mother­in­law, brother­in­law, or sister­in­law. Any of these relationships that were established by marriage are not ended by death or divorce. Example. You and your wife began sup­ porting your wife's father, a widower, in 2008. Your wife died in 2013. Despite your wife's death, your father­in­law continues to meet this test, even if he does not live with you. You can claim him as a dependent if all other tests are met, including the gross income test and sup­ port test. Foster child. A foster child is an individual who is placed with you by an authorized place­ ment agency or by judgment, decree, or other order of any court of competent jurisdiction. Joint return. If you file a joint return, the per­ son can be related to either you or your spouse. Also, the person does not need to be related to the spouse who provides support. For example, your spouse's uncle who re­ ceives more than half of his support from you may be your qualifying relative, even though he does not live with you. However, if you and your spouse file separate returns, your spouse's un­ cle can be your qualifying relative only if he lives with you all year as a member of your house­ hold. Temporary absences. A person is considered to live with you as a member of your household during periods of time when one of you, or both, are temporarily absent due to special circum­ stances such as: Illness, Education, Business, Vacation, or Military service. If the person is placed in a nursing home for an indefinite period of time to receive constant medical care, the absence may be considered temporary. Death or birth. A person who died during the year, but lived with you as a member of your household until death, will meet this test. The same is true for a child who was born during the year and lived with you as a member of your household for the rest of the year. The test is also met if a child lived with you as a member of your household except for any required hospital stay following birth. If your dependent died during the year and you otherwise qualify to claim an exemption for the dependent, you can still claim the exemp­ tion. Example. Your dependent mother died on January 15. She met the tests to be your quali­ fying relative. The other tests to claim an ex­ emption for a dependent were also met. You can claim an exemption for her on your return. Local law violated. A person does not meet this test if at any time during the year the rela­ tionship between you and that person violates local law. Example. Your girlfriend lived with you as a member of your household all year. However, your relationship with her violated the laws of the state where you live, because she was mar­ ried to someone else. Therefore, she does not meet this test and you cannot claim her as a de­ pendent. Adopted child. An adopted child is always treated as your own child. The term “adopted child” includes a child who was lawfully placed with you for legal adoption. Cousin. Your cousin meets this test only if he or she lives with you all year as a member of your household. A cousin is a descendant of a brother or sister of your father or mother. Gross Income Test To meet this test, a person's gross income for the year must be less than $3,950. Gross income defined. Gross income is all income in the form of money, property, and services that is not exempt from tax. In a manufacturing, merchandising, or min­ ing business, gross income is the total net sales minus the cost of goods sold, plus any miscella­ neous income from the business. Gross receipts from rental property are gross income. Do not deduct taxes, repairs, or other expenses to determine the gross income from rental property. Gross income includes a partner's share of the gross (not net) partnership income. Gross income also includes all taxable un­ employment compensation and certain scholar­ ship and fellowship grants. Scholarships re­ ceived by degree candidates and used for tuition, fees, supplies, books, and equipment required for particular courses generally are not included in gross income. For more information about scholarships, see chapter 1 of Publica­ tion 970. Tax­exempt income, such as certain social security benefits, is not included in gross in­ come. Disabled dependent working at sheltered workshop. For purposes of the gross income test, the gross income of an individual who is permanently and totally disabled at any time during the year does not include income for services the individual performs at a sheltered workshop. The availability of medical care at the workshop must be the main reason for the individual's presence there. Also, the income must come solely from activities at the work­ shop that are incident to this medical care. A “sheltered workshop” is a school that: Provides special instruction or training de­ signed to alleviate the disability of the indi­ vidual, and Is operated by certain tax­exempt organi­ zations or by a state, a U.S. possession, a political subdivision of a state or posses­ sion, the United States, or the District of Columbia. “Permanently and totally disabled” has the same meaning here as under Qualifying Child, earlier. Publication 501 (2014) Page 19