Was I a Full-Time Student?

[Chasp203]

In spring 2020 I was enrolled at two different community colleges in Missouri. I was received 11 credit hours at one school and I received 3 credit hours at another school. So that's a total of 14 credit hours between two schools for the year. I was not enrolled in school in the fall. Am I a full-time student?

Please let me know and thank you in advance!

[ErnieS0]

It depends. IRS defines a full-time student as a student who during any part of any five calendar months during the year was enrolled as a full-time student at an eligible educational institution, 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 were enrolled as a “full time” student for any part of five months according to your community colleges, you would be considered “full time.”

Remember you do not have to be “full-time” to qualify for education credits. You have to be enrolled at least half-time for at least one academic period that began during 2020 (or the first 3 months of 2021 if the qualified expenses were paid in 2020).

Use the IRS app to see whether you qualify for education credits.

[Hal_Al]

If you main college defines full time as 12 hours, then you are considered full time, even though some of those 12 hours were taken at another school.

Even though you can claim an education credit for less than full time, you must be full time, for parts of 5 calendar months, to qualify as your parent's dependent, under the qualifying child rules.

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

The support test is different for each type. The support test, for a QC, is only that the child didn't provide more than half his own support. The support test for a Qualifying Relative is that the taxpayer provided more than half the relative's support.

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. Scholarships are considered third party support and not as support provided by the student.
3. He lived with the parent (including temporary absences such as away at school) for more than half the year

So, it doesn't matter how much he earned. What matters is how much he spent on support. Money he put into savings does not count as support he spent on him self.

The support value of the home, provided by the parent, is the fair market rental value of the home plus utilities & other expenses divided by the number of occupants.

The IRS has a worksheet that can be used to help with the support calculation. See: http://apps.irs.gov/app/vita/content/globalmedia/teacher/worksheet_for_determining_support_4012.pdf

Furthermore, there is a rule that says IF somebody else CAN claim him as a dependent, he is not allowed to claim himself. If he has sufficient income (usually more than $12,400), he can & should still file taxes. In TurboTax, he indicates that somebody else can claim him as a dependent, at the personal information section.  TT will check that box on form 1040.