Grad school dependent

[ourfamily123]

Our daughter just started grad school this year  2020. She is half time but plans on going all year around incl summer. So when asked for dependent reasons how do you answer full time or halftime?

can we still claim her at halftime?

she is dependent even though works and pays down school loans

[HelenC12]

Yes, you can still claim her if she is an "at least Half-time student". For tax purposes, Full-time is the same as "half-time". However, there are several other qualifications besides being a student to claim her as a dependent.

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.

You can claim a child, relative, friend, or fiancé (etc.) as a dependent on your 2019 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.
• They made less than $4,200 in 2019.
• You provided more than half of their financial support.

Source: TurboTax FAQ

[djarvis88]

I'm still having problems getting a concrete clarification of:

* "The person doesn't provide more than half of his or her own support".

Does this include grad school costs, taking out loans in their own name to pay for grad school?  What if, say for example, they received aid from myself for food, rent, etc. but they got student loans in their name to pay for school that exceeded that amount?  What really qualifies as "support"?

[Hal_Al]

Yes, support include grad school costs. The money from loans, totally in the student's name (you did not co-sign) counts as support provided by the student himself.

 If the money they got from student loans, in their name, to pay for school,  exceeded the amount they received from you for food, rent, etc., you can not claim them as a dependent, nor can you claim the tuition credit