Your two possibilities to claim a dependent
are as follows:
You can claim your student as a
Qualifying Child dependent if:
- The child must be related to
you. The child can be your son, daughter, stepchild, eligible foster
child, brother, sister, half-brother, half-sister, stepbrother,
stepsister, adopted child or an offspring of any of them.
- Your child must be under age 19
or, if a full-time student, under age 24. There is no age limit if your
child is permanently and totally disabled.
- Your child must live with you
for more than half the year, but several exceptions apply (ie. away at
school).
- The child cannot provide more
than half of his/her support.
- You must be the only person
claiming the child
- The child must be a US citizen,
resident alien, national, or resident of Mexico or Canada.
- The child cannot file a joint
return with his or her spouse.
You can claim her as a Qualifying
Relative dependent if:
- You provided more than half of her
support in 2016
- She earned less than $4,050 in
gross taxable income. (Social Security income generally doesn’t count
here.)
- She lives with you 365 days in the year or is
related to you. 32
- She isn’t a dependent on someone else’s
tax return.
- She isn’t filing a tax return
with a spouse (married filing jointly).
- She is a U.S. citizen, resident alien,
national, or a Canadian or Mexican resident
You
can’t claim a dependent if you are a dependent on someone else’s taxes
See Rules For Claiming Dependents
