Dependent

[carolgb22]

My daughter graduated from college in May 2023.  She also worked most of the year.  Can I claim her even though she will be filing her own taxes?

[K M W]

Congratulations on your daughter graduating college!  This transition year can be tricky with taxes, so you will want to review the rules for claiming a dependent carefully to make sure you are both filing your tax returns correctly.  There are two sets of tests to determine if someone is your dependent - the Qualified Child, and the Qualified Relative. Note that if your daughter does NOT meet either of these, then she is NOT your dependent and you would not be able to claim her on your return.  If, however, she does meet the rules to be your Qualified Child or your Qualified Relative, then you will be able to claim her for the year, and she is required to check the box on her return that she "Can be claimed as a dependent by someone else".

So, what are the tests?  To be considered your Qualified Child, she must meet these tests:

• Relationship test. She is your daughter, so she meets this test.
• Residency test. She must have lived with you for more than half of 2023 (not sure if she meets this test or not - if she does, then read on for the rest of the Qualified Child Tests)
• Age test. She must be under age 24 at the end of 2023, a full-time student for some part of each of any five calendar months during 2023 (I am not sure of her age, but if she is under age 24, then continue on)
• Support test. She cannot have provided over half of her own support during 2023.

So, if she meets all the above tests, she is your Qualified Child and you can claim her as a dependent. If, however, she does NOT meet all the rules, she may still be your dependent as a Qualified Relative. The Qualified Relative tests are as follows:

• Relationship or member of household test. She is your daughter, so she meets this test.
• Not a qualifying child test. 
• Gross income test. She must have gross income of less than $4,700 in 2023.
• Support test. You must have provided over half of her support in 2023. 

So, to answer your question, you will have to look at each of these tests.  If she has worked most of the year, I would presume she earned over $4,700 in 2023, so she automatically will fail the Qualified Relative Test.

But, in the year the child graduates college, it can be difficult to determine if the Qualified Child tests are met.  She certainly meets the Relationship test, given she's your daughter.  Where did she live in 2023? Note that living away from your house while at school is considered a "temporary absence", so the time when she was at college would count as months living with you.  But where did she move after she graduated?  If she does not live with you for over 1/2 the year, then she would not be your dependent.

If she did live with you, then you need to make sure she meets the age test - how old is she at the end of the tax year?  If she turned 24 during the year, OR if she graduated from college before May 1, then she would not meet this test.

Finally, the support test - you will have to put pencil to paper and map out how much you spent during the year on her support (rent, food, utilities, car, etc.) and how much she spent on her support to determine if you meet this test or not.

So, the answer to your question is - maybe, maybe not.  You will need to trace through each of the tests I listed above, and if at any time you get to a no, then she is not your dependent for the year. Hope that helps clarify, and again congrats on her college graduation!

[SusanR2]

This is not a yes or no question!  To claim your child, she must either be considered a Qualified Child or Qualified Relative. 

For Qualifying Child, generally, you can claim your child who is over age 19 on 12/31 if the child is a student, lived with you for more than half the year, did not provide for more than half of her own support and she is not filing a joint return (you indicated she was filing her own taxes).  Note that a student for tax purposes is one who attended full time (the school's definition of full time) for part of at least 5 months (don’t have to be consecutive) of the tax year. 

So, if your daughter graduated in May (assuming she attended school full time during part of 5 months of the year) and she meets all the other tests, she'd probably still qualify – regardless of how much she earned at work. 

If she does not meet one of the above tests she may still be claimed as a Qualifying Relative if she lived with you as a member of your household all year or is related to you in one of the ways listed in IRS publication 501 (https://www.irs.gov/publications/p501#en_US_2023_publink1000220957),

does not have gross income of more than $4700 ($5050 for 2024) AND you provided for more than half of her support.

As you can see, your question does not resolve all the issues raised by the various IRS tests for dependency so I cannot say for sure if she can be claimed as your dependent.  On top of that, most of the terms mentioned have special meanings for tax purposes (ie if your child was away at school, that my still count as having resided with you; there are special situations for children of divorced/separated parents, age does not matter if child permanently disabled, etc.).

In addition to IRS publication 501 referenced above, here is a TurboTax article regarding dependents that will help you out:

https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tips/family/rules-for-claiming-a-dependent-on-your-tax-return/L8LODb...

Also, the IRS has a great tool where you can answer questions and it will let you know who qualifies as your dependent.  It can be found here:

https://www.irs.gov/help/ita/whom-may-i-claim-as-a-dependent

Remember, since you stated that she filed her own taxes (or will be filing her own taxes), if you do end up claiming her, she will have to indicate on her return that she may be claimed as a dependent on someone else's return.  If she does not indicate that and you claim her, your return will be rejected because she will have filed her own individual return without stating that she may be claimed as a dependent by someone else.

Hope this helps.

Susan

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