My 21 year old son wants to claim himself. He is a full time student, but pays for school w/loans

[waleeper]

My Son is 21 years old.  We provide his health insurance, car insurance, and a few incidentals.  He pays for college with a mix of scholarships, student loans, and income from working.   I already know the scholarships do not count towards providing over half of his support.   I think I should still get to claim him, but he is pushing to claim himself.

[PaulaM]

In general, support includes amounts spent to provide food, lodging, clothing, education, medical, dental care, health insurance, recreation, transportation, etc. Lodging expenses would be the fair market value of the lodging. 

The question to answer is: Of the expenses you provide to him, is that greater than 50% of his total expenses. If he is providing his own lodging, education expenses, food, clothing, etc, and that total is the majority of his expenses, then he is correct to claim his own exemption.

You can use the IRS worksheet below to determine the support level you provide for your son.

IRS support worksheet