My girlfriend lives with me she was unemployed for all of 2016 and was a full time college student. Can i claim her as a dependent? she had grants and loans no income

[Lopez]

Can she even file for taxes for 2016

[PatriciaV · Accepted solution]

Yes, your girlfriend may be claimed as a dependent on your tax return under certain circumstances.

Read more here to see if she qualifies:

https://ttlc.intuit.com/replies/3288503

If you're still unsure, try entering your girlfriend's information in TurboTax and let the program tell you if you can claim this person as a dependent.

The rules for filing are that if your income is less than the minimum required to file a tax return, and you don't believe you may receive a refund of any income taxes that you paid, you aren't required to file a return. Read more here: Do I need to file a federal return this year?

[Texas Roger]

@Hal_Al @Carl Who can claim the education tax benefits if the girl friend is claimed by the boy friend?

[Carl]

The parents if they qualify. Remember, the parents do not have to claim the GF as their dependent. They only have to "qualify" to claim her. If I recall, the only credit the parents lose in the AOC. They can get all the others, based on out of pocket expenses, regardless of who paid those out of pocket expenses.

[Hal_Al]

I don't think so. Whomever is claiming the student's exemption gets to claim the education credit or deduction. So, if the GF qualifies as the  the BF's dependent, and he claims her, he gets the tuition credit too.

[Texas Roger]

I agree with Hal_Al but I wasn't certain about it.

[Carl]

Yep.. I guess it depends on the credit too. For example, for the AOC, Pub 970 clearly says:

Generally, you can claim the American opportunity credit
if all three of the following requirements are met.
-You pay qualified education expenses of higher education.
-You pay the education expenses for an eligible student.
=The eligible student is either yourself, your spouse, or
a dependent for whom you claim an exemption on
your tax return.
So the best one can say really, is that if the BF did not actually pay them, he can't claim the AOC. I'm sure this holds true for the other credits. But not getting into that because we already know the criteria differs for each credit.

[Texas Roger]

Parents are allowed to claim the expenses paid out of pocket or with loans regardless of who actually paid them. Why would the requirement be different for a student claimed as a qualifying relative than a student claimed as a qualifying child by a parent?

[Carl]

"THAT"'s the thing I had on the tip of my tongue Texas Roger!

[Hal_Al]

The BF can claim the AOC, whether he pays the expenses, the student pays the expenses or the even the parents pay. As long as the expenses were not paid by tax free grants.