My 25 year old son lives with me and is a full time student. He also works for me, part-time, in a business that I own but I do not pay him and I pay all of his expenses except for college tuition and books that he pays for with student loans and grants. My question is two fold; would I be better off paying him for working and can I claim as a dependent. Also, I have a question that seems to be totally insane but I have had several people tell me that you can claim your pets; is this true? I also live in a county in Mississippi that was a distaster zone from Hurricane Katrina; is there some sort of special credit we can claim?

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Hattiesburg