It depends. You could claim her as a dependent if you meet the other requirements, and she is only temporarily away at school.
If your daughter was a full-time student and lived with you, she could be your dependent child for 2024 as long as she didn't provide more than half of her own financial support in 2024.
You can use the IRS worksheet at this link to help with calculating support.
Claiming a child as a dependent generally requires that they live with you for more than half the year, they don't provide more than half of their own financial support, and are under the age of 19, or under 24 if a full-time student.
A full-time student is a student who is enrolled for the number of hours or courses that the school considers to be full-time attendance.
To qualify as a student, the person must be, during some part of each of any five calendar months of the year:
- A full-time student at a school that has a regular teaching staff, course of study, and a regularly enrolled student body at the school, or
- A student taking a full-time, on-farm training course given by a school described in (1), or by a state, county, or local government agency.
This information is found in the Personal Exemptions and Dependents chapter of Publication 17.
Please also see this tax tips article for more information from TurboTax on claiming dependents.
In order to qualify for the education credit (American Opportunity or Lifetime Learning), the student must have attended a qualified institution. If the foreign study program was sponsored by a qualified US school, the expenses could qualify for the credit.
Many schools don't mail Form 1098-T, but post it in the student's account where it can be downloaded. If tuition was paid for 2024 to a qualified school, they should have issued the form. Check with your student or the school. Yes, in most cases, you need the form in order to claim an education credit. Please see this TurboTax tips article for more information on Form 1098-T.
Also, some schools aren't qualified for education credits because they don't participate in Federal programs such as student loans. See this IRS webpage for more information about qualified schools.
Review and complete all of the items in the Expenses and Scholarships section under Deductions & Credits to confirm they are correct and that you didn't miss any steps.
The amount shown in Box 1 of Form 1098-T should reflect the amount the school received for qualified tuition and related fees. Contact the school if you believe the information on the form isn't correct.
Tuition is what the school charges for the education itself. Room and board is not part of tuition and doesn't qualify for education credits. Enter expenses for other items such as books under Other Education Expenses.
The final screen in this section tells you whether you qualify for an education credit. If you don't qualify, it may be that your income exceeded the limit, or the expenses paid for qualifying tuition and related expenses didn't exceed the scholarship received. Also, if you qualify to be claimed as a dependent on another person's return, you cannot claim the education credits.
Please see this TurboTax article and this IRS webpage for more information.
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