College Student Votes in a Different State

[gmdandrea]

If my child goes to college in a different state and registers to vote in that state, can I still claim him as a dependent? I still support him financially and he comes home for winter and summer breaks.

[xmasbaby0]

Is your college student under the age of 24?  If your college student still comes home for school breaks, etc. you can still consider the kid to live with you---living away at school is only a "temporary absence."   Where they vote is not relevant to that.   

Here is the criteria to determine if you can claim your child as a dependent:

WHO CAN I CLAIM AS A DEPENDENT?

You can claim a child, relative, friend, or fiancé (etc.) as a dependent on your 2023 taxes as long as they meet the following requirements:

Qualifying child

• They're related to you.
• They aren't claimed as a dependent by someone else.
• They're a U.S. citizen, resident alien, national, or a Canadian or Mexican resident.
• They aren’t filing a joint return with their spouse.
• They're under the age of 19 (or 24 for full-time students).
• No age limit for permanently and totally disabled children.
• They lived with you for more than half the year (exceptions apply).
• They didn't provide more than half of their own support for the year.

Qualifying relative

• They don't have to be related to you (despite the name).
• They aren't claimed as a dependent by someone else.
• They're a U.S. citizen, resident alien, national, or a Canadian or Mexican resident.
• They aren’t filing a joint return with their spouse.
• They lived with you the entire year (exceptions apply).
• They made less than $4,700 in 2023.   (For 2024 —  $5050)
• You provided more than half of their financial support.

When you add someone as a dependent, we'll ask a series of questions to make sure you can claim them. There may be other tax benefits you can get when you claim a dependent.

Related Information:

• What does "financially support another person" mean?

[NCperson]

@xmasbaby0 just for future posts, "related to you" is not the  relationship test criteria for Qualifying Child.  

here is the criteria: 

Relationship Test: your bio, step or foster child, or your bio, step or half sibling, incl. descendants of these children or these siblings

so nieces and nephews would qualify, but cousins would not. 

further, under Qualifying Relative - the other criteria is that they can't be a Qualifying Child.

[xmasbaby0]

@NCperson

Interesting.....since that verbiage comes straight from a TT FAQ

https://ttlc.intuit.com/turbotax-support/en-us/help-article/tax-credits-deductions/claim-dependent/L...

[NCperson]

@xmasbaby0 yes, interesting indeed

See page 11 - "test to be a Qualifying Child" - item 1

"The child must be your son, daughter, stepchild, foster child, brother, sister, half brother, half sister, stepbrother, or stepsister, or a descendant of any of them."

so nieces and nephews count (since they are descendants of the bolded relationships), but cousins do not count as they are not listed!

www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p501.pdf