Am I considered a full-time student?

[s_kim93]

I was a full-time student from January - April 2016 and graduated. The question said that you had to be enrolled for 5 or more months to be considered a student. How should I fill out this part?

[LinaJ2018 · Accepted solution]

Generally speaking, you are considered as a full time student if you enroll in school for at least five months in 2016. However, each school defines "full time" in its own way (usually in terms of the number of courses or hours). If you are considered as a full time student by your school, you will check YES to the question on the screen. Make sure to check with your school's registrar office to be sure.  See attached screenshot

According to IRS publication 17, you are a full-time student if you are enrolled at a school for the number of hours or classes that the school considers full time. You must be full-time for some part of each of 5 calendar months during the year. (The months need not be consecutive)

For claiming the educational benefit purposes, full time is also equivalent to at least half-time that is if the student was taking at least half the normal full-time work load for his or her course of study. The standard for what is half of the normal full-time work load is also determined by each eligible educational institution.

[Edited 2/24/2017]

[s_kim93]

Hi, thank you so much for getting back to me. I am still a little confused though because I was not a full-time student for 5 months, it was only from January - April which is 4 months total.

[LinaJ2018]

The rules say as long as you are full time for some part of each of the 5 months, or if you are considered as a full time by your school, you are still treated as a full times student.

[moorefamily333]

So no, one semester isn't enough. That seems like the system working against ya doesn't it?

[kyriemc5]

So... being a freshman in college for the fall and being a Senior in High School the previous spring semesters of the same year would work?  ... but then there is no 1098...

[saltypratzels89]

@moorefamily333  No, one semester is enough if you were enrolled for 5 months.

[Hal_Al]

It depends on why you are asking the question.

To claim educational benefits, the 5 month rule does not apply.  Any amount  of time as a full time student counts.  As others have indicated, you only need to be half time or more to claim educational tax benefits. 

The 5 month-full time rule  applies to the ability of your parents (or any other relative) to claim you as a "Qualifying Child" dependent.  If you were only  in school Jan.- April, you do not qualify.  If the semester ended May 1, or later, you do qualify.

___________________________________________________________________________

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, a relationship test and residence test. Only a QC qualifies a taxpayer for the Earned Income Credit and the Child Tax Credit. They are interrelated but the rules are different for each.

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. 
3. He lived with the parent (including temporary absences such as away at school) for more than half the year

[Carl]

You are confusing the requirements of IRS Publication 17 and IRS Publication 970.  People screw this up (as I have in the past)

To qualify as a dependent, there is no "time" requirement or even a requirement that the student be full time. Those requirements only come into effect when it comes to claiming the educational credits covered in IRS Publication 970 at https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p970.pdf. Based on what I read in IRS Publication 970 page 22, left column where it reads:

You are a full-time student for 2018 if during any part of any 5 calendar months during the year you were enrolled as a full-time student at an eligible educational institution (defined earlier), or took a full-time, on-farm training course given by such an institution or by a state, county, or local government agency.

So if you graduated college on May 1, you get to count the entire month of May and qualify as a full time student. However, if you graduated on April 30, you are not a full time student.  However........

If  you graduated high school in April and started college on Dec 1st of that same year, then YES, you are a full time student. There is no requirement that the 5 months be consecutive. It's only required that the 5 months be in the same calendar year.

[Hal_Al]

@Carl - 

"To qualify as a dependent, there is no "time" requirement or even a requirement that the student be full time".  That's true for a qualifying relative dependent, but not a qualifying child, over 18.  It's usually the qualifying child rule that a parent is trying to meet, as students frequently have more than $4200 income and can't be a qualifying relative.

I had not previously notice the full time student quote from Pub 970. It is under the topic, "Refundable Part of Credit", and appears to only apply to a student (under 24) qualifying for that, on his own.  I was not aware of that additional requirement. Thanks!

There is no 5 month/full time requirement for qualifying for credits, in general.  You only have to be half time, for any period of time. 

[Carl]

There is no 5 month/full time requirement for qualifying for credits, in general.

Oh I agree whole-heartedly! The 5-month requirement is "only" to qualify as a full time student. That's it, and it has nothing to do with qualifying for credits, or qualifying as a dependent.  The requirement relates only to the status of the student as either full time or not.

[Donny039]

I'm trying to figure out if I can check the box that asks if my son was a full-time student in 2019 in the dependents section to qualify for EIC. I think I follow what you guys are saying, but let me double check and run this scenario by you ....

My 20 year old son lives with me and is supported by me. He has been registered / attending a Adult Education GED program through a local City High School since August of 2019 (Aug-Dec 2019 = 5 months), this GED program is 1 day per week for 4 hours in class, there is also a undetermined amount of time that he does work at home on his computer and studying in the school library.  

I am claiming him as a dependent regardless but claiming him makes no difference to my taxes if I dont check him as being a full-time student thus giving me the EIC for him.

So whats the verdict, is he a full-time student as a dependent for the EIC ???       Thanks in advance!!  

[Hal_Al]

@Donny039  - Simple answer: No, he is not a full time student. The usual rule for full time is 12 class room hours per week. 

Technically the answer is it depends on how the school classifies him.  Each school has it's own criteria for full time.

Refrences:

https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/taxes/discussion/if-my-son-is-doing-ged-course-can-he-be-considere...

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/f/fulltimestudent.asp

[Donny039]

Thanks for your reply Hal_Al  ..... thats kind of what I have been thinking but even now im still not 100% sure, the GED program he attends only meets 1 day a week for 4 hours that day and he attends it 1 day every week for 4 hours so he is a full-time participant in the GED program.    I'm guessing if I contact the school and pose this question they probably wont be 100% sure about the answer either.  

The Investopedia link you provided says this:  

Example of a Full-Time Student

The technical definition of what the government views as a full-time student can be broad. For example, the IRS considers a child under the age of 19 or an adult child under the age of 24 who is attending an education program for at least five months per calendar year, the months not required to be consecutive or full, to be considered a full-time student.1

Additionally, the adult child under the age of 24 must not be self-supporting in order for their parent or legal guardian to claim them as a dependent on their own taxes.4 Parents or guardians may also claim the American Opportunity Educational Credit, based on college tuition and related fees for full-time students, but this credit does have its own requirements for full-time students between the ages of 18 and 24 enrolled in an academic program

[sugarmakesmehappy]

I started my full-time college courses in January of 2020, however i was a part-time student for the fall of 2019

do i still file for my 1098-T? My dad is wondering because he'd like to file 

@Hal_Al @KathrynG3 @Carl