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posted May 31, 2019 9:39:18 PM

Our son graduated from college in may 2016, do i claim his education expenses for that semester on my 2016 taxes?

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1 Best answer
Expert Alumni
May 31, 2019 9:39:20 PM

Only if you claim him as a dependent. You might be able to do that if he lived with you form more than half the year, didn't provide more than half of his own support, and was under 24 and a full time student for at least part of each of 5 months during 2016. 

The IRS says "To qualify as a student, the taxpayer's child must be enrolled in the number of hours or courses the school considers full-time during some part of at least five months of the year." So if she was considered a full time student from January until sometime in May, that would be five months, and she would qualify as a student. See this link, under Student defined: https://www.irs.gov/publications/p17/ch03.html#en_US_2016_publink1000170876 

1 Replies
Expert Alumni
May 31, 2019 9:39:20 PM

Only if you claim him as a dependent. You might be able to do that if he lived with you form more than half the year, didn't provide more than half of his own support, and was under 24 and a full time student for at least part of each of 5 months during 2016. 

The IRS says "To qualify as a student, the taxpayer's child must be enrolled in the number of hours or courses the school considers full-time during some part of at least five months of the year." So if she was considered a full time student from January until sometime in May, that would be five months, and she would qualify as a student. See this link, under Student defined: https://www.irs.gov/publications/p17/ch03.html#en_US_2016_publink1000170876