Deductions & credits

It depends.  For the Kentucky Family Size Tax Credit, your dependent will qualify if they can be considered a qualifying child on the Federal return.  Thus if he or she is:

• Under 24, and
• A full-time student  (by definition, at least a half-time student for at least five months), and
• Living with you (being away at school is a temporary absence; your dependent still lives with you) at least 6 months and 1 day, and
  
• A qualified relationship (son, daughter, stepson or daughter by marriage to biological parent, brother, sister, niece, nephew, grandchild or state-placed foster child)

Then, your dependent is a qualified child and also a dependent for KY.  This type of dependent gets two benefits.  First is the exemption (not a big benefit as Kentucky only gives $10 per exemption on the tax return).  The second is the Family Size Tax Credit, available for families with fairly low income.

There is a third benefit as well that you can claim if your dependent is either a qualifying child or a qualifying relative.  (A qualifying relative could be too old to be a qualifying child, for instance.  However, if he/she made less than $4050 and you provided more than half of his/her support, you still would have claimed on the Federal Return). A qualifying relative does not count for the Family Size Tax credit, However, since your dependent was a student, you may be able to claim Kentucky educational credits as well.  These are based on the American Opportunity Credit.  If your dependent attended a KY eligible school, you may receive up to 25% of the amount of American Opportunity Credit from last year, for a potential $625 credit on the KY return.