Can I claim my fiancé who lives with me, goes to school full time, doesn’t work, but gets a scholarship check?

 

Education

You can claim a non-relative as a dependent on your tax return under the Qualifying Relative rules if they meet all the requirements under the rules.

 

To be a Qualifying Relative -

1. The person cannot be your qualifying child or the qualifying child of any other taxpayer. A child is not the qualifying child of any other taxpayer if the child's parent (or any other person for whom the child is defined as a qualifying child) is not required to file an income tax return or files an income tax return only to get a refund on income tax withheld.
2. The person either (a) must be related to you or (b) must live with you all year as a member of your household.
3. The person's gross income for the year must be less than $4,200 (social security does not count) in 2019
4. You must provide more than half of the person's total support for the year.
5. The person must be a U.S. citizen or a U.S., Canada, or Mexico resident for some part of the year.
6. The person must not file a joint return with their spouse.

Hal_Al
Level 15

Education

For the $4200 income test (#3), only the taxable portion of scholarship counts as income. The portion of the scholarship that went to tuition, fees and books (and other course materials) is not income.

 

The entire scholarship amount counts as support not provided by you for the support test (#4).

 

The IRS has a worksheet that can be used to help with the support calculation. See: http://apps.irs.gov/app/vita/content/globalmedia/teacher/worksheet_for_determining_support_4012.pdf The support value of a home is the fair market rental value, divided by the number of occupants.