Anyone for whom you provide more than 50% of their annual income.

A person qualifying as your dependent: --generally may be your child, stepchild, adopted child, grand child, great-grand child, son or daughter in law, father or mother in law, brother or sister in law, parent, brother, sister, grand parent, step-parent, stepbrother or sister, half brother or sister, and, if related by blood, uncle, aunt, niece, or nephew. The above relatives do not have to live with you. Also, any person, whether or not you are related to them, who is a member of your household for the entire tax year, except for temporary absences; --must receive less than $3,200 of gross income in 2005, unless the dependent is your child and either under age 19 or a full-time student under age 24; --must receive more than one-half of his or her support from you; --cannot file a joint tax return with his or her spouse, unless the joint tax return is filed solely to obtain a tax refund when neither the child nor the spouse is required to file a tax return; and --must be a U.S. citizen or national, or a resident of the U.S., Canada, or Mexico. A child who is paying more than one-half of his or her own support may not be claimed as a dependent and you cannot take a tax exemption on your tax return. From http://www.wwwebtax.com/miscellaneous/exemptions.htm

Dependants are people who you provide over 50% of their support and cannot or don't claim themselves or are claimed by others. Examples of dependants are your spouse and children, your spouse's children (if they aren't claimed by her ex husband), your parents if you pay most of their living expenses. Complicated ones are your grandchildren when your children are living with you too. You may need a tax professional or a call to the IRS to determine if you can claim them.

Anyone can be claimed as a dependent on your tax return, but they might not be allowed! A list of "proper" dependents is as follows: 1. Your spouse 2. Your child age 18 or younger 3. Your child regardless of age if disabled, and you provide at least 50% of their support 4. Your disabled or aged parent, if you provide at least 50% of their support 5. A child age 18 or younger in your care, if you are providing at least 50% of their support, and no-one else is claiming them as a dependent 6. Your pet cat, but only if you really, really love them. (Just kidding on this one!)

Straight from the IRS website: http://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc354.html "Tests To Be a Qualifying Child;Tests To Be a Qualifying Relative The child must be your son, daughter, stepchild, eligible foster child, brother, sister, half brother, half sister, stepbrother, stepsister, or a descendant of any of them. The child must be (a) under age 19 at the end of the year, (b) under age 24 at the end of the year and a full-time student, or (c) any age if permanently and totally disabled. The child must have lived with you for more than half of the year. The child must not have provided more than half of his or her own support for the year. If the child meets the rules to be a qualifying child of more than one person, you must be the person entitled to claim the child as a qualifying child. The person cannot be your qualifying child or the qualifying child of anyone else. The person either (a) must be related to you in one of the ways listed under Relatives who do not have to live with you, or (b) must live with you all year as a member of your household (and your relationship must not violate local law). The person's gross income for the year must be less than $3,300. You must provide more than half of the person's total support for the year. 1There is an exception for certain adopted children. 2There are exceptions for temporary absences, children who were born or died during the year, children of divorced or separated parents, and kidnapped children. 3There is an exception if the person is disabled and has income from a sheltered workshop. 4There are exceptions for multiple support agreements, children of divorced or separated parents, and kidnapped children. You cannot claim any dependents if you, or your spouse if filing jointly, could be claimed as a dependent by another taxpayer. You cannot claim a married person who files a joint return as a dependent unless that joint return is only a claim for refund and there would be no tax liability for either spouse on separate returns. You cannot claim a person as a dependent unless that person is a U.S. citizen, U.S. resident alien, U.S. national, or a resident of Canada or Mexico, for some part of the year. 1 You cannot claim a person as a dependent unless that person is your qualifying child or qualifying relative."