What if my child died in 2025?

If your child was alive at any point during 2025, you can still claim them as a dependent, even if they died.

Here's how you would determine how to enter the number of months the child lived with you on the dependent screens:

• If your dependent died in 2025 and lived with you while they were alive, you can indicate that the dependent lived with you for all of 2025.
• If your child didn't live with you while they were alive, you can enter 7 or more months if they lived with you for more than half of the time they were alive.

Example: Your child was born in 2025 but passed away 1 week later. You can enter them as a dependent. If your child didn't live with anyone besides you during the week they were alive (the IRS counts them as living with you even if they were in the hospital), you can answer Yes to the question asking if they lived with you in the United States for all of 2025.