Can my dad claim me as a dependent?

[jherring96]

Hello,

I am trying to figure out for my dad if it possible for him to claim me as a dependent.

I am 23 years old and I started graduate school last May. I didn't necessarily provide for myself, but neither did my parents. It was through my school loans for most of the year. I was providing for myself before I moved and started graduated school (Jan-May), but I only made about $4500 for that time frame/the year. I have not lived at home for about 2 years now. I am not married and will be filing as single. 

My feeling is that the answer is no since I have not lived at home and they do not provide support for me, but I didn't know if being a student under 24 played a role or not. Also, I know that as a an undergraduate how much I made for the year made a difference. I did not know if that still applies as a graduate student. 

[DavidS127]

Based on the information provided, your father cannot claim you as a dependent  because you don't meet the tests for either a "qualifying child" or a "qualifying relative".  That is based on the assumption that you provided more than half your support, and the fact that you earned more than $4,200.

If you didn't provide more than half you support, you would qualify as a qualifying child if you are "temporarily away from home at college". But if you don't live at home when you are not at college, you wouldn't meet that test.

Table 5 from IRS Publication 501 is a good overview of what it takes to claim a dependent.

[jherring96]

I provide 100% of my support and have for a couple of years now. It was just provided through loans in 2019 instead of work since I was a new graduate student in a vigorous program. Since graduate school started, there is no summer break or a time when I am not in college. It goes year-long. However, I have not lived at home since the summer of 2017 which would have been the last couple years of my undergraduate time leading into my graduate time. So I have not been "temporally away from home at college" for awhile now. I just wanted to double check for him.  

[JosephF8]

For your dad to claim you he must be able to answer yes to all of the following. From your post it seems that we get hung up on the support question.

• 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.

[jherring96]

So if I can only answer yes to the first 2 bullet points, and no to the last 3 then he cannot claim me?

I have read these bullet points multiple times, but it is still not completely clear. 

[KatrinaB48]

Yes, that is correct. He must have been able to answer yes to all the questions to qualify. 

[jherring96]

What if I still use their address as my permanent address even though I have not lived at home in a couple of years? I have always lived somewhere else, but never switched my address since I have always lived in temporarily off-campus apartments. Does that change anything?

[CatinaT1]

This does not change anything.