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If you were a full time student for at least 1 day of 5 different months during the year, you qualify as a full time student.
If you were a full time student for at least 1 day of 5 different months during the year, you qualify as a full time student.
Yes. You will be considered as a full time student. According to 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.
Hi,
What is your opinion, my child is a Full time undergraduate student in the Spring semester ( February -May) then the child will take online only 2 classes-6 credits ( part time September -December) and graduate.
She does not need more classes in order to graduate. Will be the student Full time or Part Time for the tax purposes? I know one semester as a full time is only 4 months, but will take a part time classes in the Fall for 4 more months. Does it count toward being 5 months as a Full time student?
Thank you.
No, she will not be considered a full-time student in 2024. With the information you provided, she does not meet the definition of a full-time student according to the IRS. She was only enrolled full-time from Feb. - May (4 months). See the image below.
[Edited 3/27/24 | 11:55am PST]
For taxes, there are two main reasons*** for being classified as a Full Time Student (FTS). One is for qualifying for tuition credits and the 2nd is for qualifying as a dependent, under the "Qualifying Child"* rules.
Yes, she was a FTS for the tuition credit**. But, she was not a FTS for the qualifying child dependent rules, because the 5 month rule was not met. If she had started classes January 31 or sooner, the answer would be different.
*There are two types of dependents, "Qualifying Children"(QC) and Other ("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, student status, a relationship test and residence test.
A child of a taxpayer can still be a “Qualifying Child” (QC) dependent, regardless of his/her income, if:
She cannot be your dependent for 2023, unless her income was less than $4700, which meets the "qualifying relative" rules.
**Although it usually doesn't matter, as half time or more qualifies for the credit. There's one unique situation where not being a FTS is a benefit. She can claim the refundable credit, if she not a dependent.
***Note: there are other tax attributes where being a full time student might matter; e.g. dependent care credit and the Retirement Savers Credit.
Thank you Tom
Thank you for your explanation Hal_Al.
Does the Winter or summer breaks count as a time at the college or not?
Q. Does the Winter or summer breaks count as a time at the college or not?
A. No.
Yes. Winter and Summer breaks do not disqualify a student from being considered a fulltime student.
Thank you Dave
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