When you claim a child as an exemption, it lowers your taxable income by $4,050 for tax year 2016. For example, if you had taxable income of $25,000 in 2016 and claimed your daughter as an exemption, instead of paying taxes on $25,000, you would now only be paying taxes on $20,950 of income. So indirectly, claiming a child as your dependent would either increase your refund or decrease the taxes that you owe.
You can claim your daughter who is away at college if all of the other conditions to the IRS test below have been met. Please note that a child who is away at college is viewed as living at home.
A parent may claim their child if they meet either the qualifying child or qualifying relative test as outlined below:
Qualifying Child
These 5 tests (all of them), will qualify a child as a
dependent:
-
Relationship: They
must be your child, adopted child, foster-child, brother or sister, or a
descendant of one of these (grand or nephew).
-
Residence: They
had to live with you in the same residence for more than half the year.
Being away at school is considered as living at home.
-
Age: Must
be under age 19 or under 24 and a full-time student for at least 5 months
of the year. They can be any age if they are totally and permanently
disabled.
-
Support: child
did not provide more than half of their own support during the year.
-
Joint
Support: The child cannot file a joint return for the year.
