How to claim a dependent child over age 18 who:s in college

[sholloway06]

My daughter is 19 years old, lives in my home, but attends college online in another state.  How do I claim her as a dependent if she is over 18 years old?  I have provided all of her care (home, food, etc) for the entire year.  My return was kicked back because it said she was over 18.  I thought I could claim her until she was 23 if she was still in school.  Help!!

[Texas Roger]

She must be a full time student for at least 1 day of 5 months for you to claim her but the IRS would not know whether she is or isn't full time. What was the reason given for rejecting your return?

[dana-garn]

because she is 18

[Texas Roger]

To dana.garn: Do you have a question? If so, I suggest you start a new thread with it.

[amaspence1]

Can my sons grandfather claim all the college expenses that he spends on
My son?  We claim him but he pays all his college expenses yes we are very
Thankful for him.

[gdoronzo]

what if my daughter is 19, is in IEP, attends college part time and works, can we claim her as a dependent

[Badair · Accepted solution]

Hello sholloway06,

To claim an exemption for your child, you must be able to answer "yes" to all of the following questions:

• Are they related to you? The child can be your son, daughter, stepchild, eligible foster child, brother, sister, half brother, half sister, stepbrother, stepsister, adopted child or an offspring of any of them.
   
• Do they meet the age requirement? Your child must be under age 19 or, if a full-time student, under age 24. There is no age limit if your child is permanently and totally disabled.
   
• Do they live with you? Your child must live with you for more than half the year, but several exceptions apply.
   
• Do you financially support them? Your child may have a job, but that job cannot provide more than half of her support.
   
• Are you the only person claiming them? This requirement commonly applies to children of divorced parents. Here you must use the “tie breaker rules,” which are found in IRS Publication 501. These rules establish income, parentage and residency requirements for claiming a child. 

Below I've provided a link that goes over the complete requirements in detail. If you have any additional questions or follow up questions please feel free to ask.

https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tools/tax-tips/Family/Rules-for-Claiming-a-Dependent-on-Your-Tax-Ret...

Hope this helps.
Badair

[Melody13]

Can I claim my child who is over age 18, a full-time college student and works part-time? How do I determine if I can claim her? 

[Hal_Al]

@Melody13  - Yes, you can claim her as a dependent.  Enter her info, at dependents, under PERSONAL INFO / You & Your Family.  The TurboTax interview will qualify her.

A child of a taxpayer can still be a “Qualifying Child” (QC) dependent, regardless of his/her income, if:

1. He is under age 19, or under 24 if a full time student for at least 5 months of the year, or is totally & permanently disabled
2. He did not provide more than 1/2 his own support. Scholarships are considered third party support and not as support provided by the student.
3. He lived with the parent (including temporary absences such as away at school) for more than half the year

So, it doesn't matter how much he earned. What matters is how much he spent on support. Money he put into savings does not count as support he spent on him self.

The support value of the home, provided by the parent, is the fair market rental value of the home plus utilities & other expenses divided by the number of occupants.

Furthermore, there is a rule that says IF somebody else CAN claim him as a dependent, he is not allowed to claim himself. If he has sufficient income (usually more than $12,200), he can & should still file taxes. In TurboTax, he indicates that somebody else can claim him as a dependent, at the personal information section.  TT will check that box on form 1040.

Even if he had less, he is allowed to file if he needs to get back income tax withholding. He cannot get back social security or Medicare tax withholding.

[jackster59]

My Son, 23yrs old just graduated from college.  He is unemployed and receives 100% support from us.  Can we still claim as dependent while providing 100% support?   COVID has totally wrecked job climate for new grads... :( 

Thanks

Jack

[Hal_Al]

There are two types of dependents, "Qualifying Children"(QC) and standard ("Qualifying Relative" in IRS parlance even though they don't have to actually be related). There is no income limit for a QC but there is an age limit and student status test, a relationship test and a residence test. Only a QC qualifies a taxpayer for the Earned Income Credit and the Child Tax Credit. 

See the Qualifying Child rules above.

A person can still be a Qualifying relative dependent, if not a Qualifying Child, if he meets the 6 tests for claiming a dependent:

1. Closely Related OR live with the taxpayer ALL year
2. His/her gross taxable income for the year must be less than $4300 (2020).
3. The taxpayer must have provided more than 1/2 his support

In either case:

4. He must be a US citizen or resident of the US, Canada or Mexico
5. He must not file a joint return with his spouse or be claiming a dependent of his own
6. He must not be the qualifying child of another taxpayer