If on Dec 31 of the tax year the student:
Is under the age of 24 on Dec 31 of the tax year and:
Is enrolled in an undergraduate program at an accredited institution and:
Is enrolled as a full time student for any one academic semester that begins during the tax year, (each institution has their own definition of a full time student) and:
the STUDENT did NOT provide more that 50% of the STUDENT’S support (schollarships/grants received by the student ***do not count*** as the student providing their own support)
Then:
The parents qualify to claim the student as a dependent on the parent's tax return . Period, End of Story.
Take note that in the above requirements there is no mention of the student's income. The student could literally earn a million dollars and still qualify as a dependent on the parent's tax return.
Understand that the key word here is "QUALIFY". It does not matter if the parents actually claim the student as a dependent or not. If the parent's "qualify" to claim the student, then the student must select the option for "I can be claimed on someone else's tax return" when the student files their own tax return.
Since your student has more than $12,600 of earned income, the student is "required" to file a tax return.
Your student is not eligible for any of the education credits. (If any 529 distributions are involved here, there's a work-around that *MIGHT* apply. It depends on to many factors to cover at this time.)
