@Carl
@loghound
I don’t think it’s a difficult thought experiment at all. The question is always, can the child be claimed as a dependent on a particular year’s tax return. If you gave the child a large sum of money in 2021, and nothing in 2022, and they paid their 2022 tuition and living expenses from their savings, then you did not support them in 2022, even though their savings includes the gift from 2021.
(Of course, there may be other reasons to not give a child a large sum of money as an unconditional gift.)
