In the personal info section of TurboTax (TT), you enter her information under dependents. Then you follow the interview. If she qualifies, TT will list her as your dependent. She must qualify as your dependent in order for you to claim the tuition credit.
There are two types of dependents, "Qualifying Children"(QC) and standard ("Qualifying Relative" in IRS parlance even though they don't have to actually be related). There is no income limit for a QC but there is an age limit, student status, a relationship test and residence test. Only a QC qualifies a taxpayer for the Earned Income Credit. So the interview is long and complicated.
In addition to the dependent rules, listed at the other post:
- If the child meets the rules to be a qualifying child of more than one person, you must be the person entitled to claim the child as a qualifying child (this essentially means that you have the parent’s permission to claim the child, if the child also lived with the parent more than half the year)
- If the parents of a child can claim the child as a qualifying child but no parent so claims the child, no one else can claim the child as a qualifying child unless that person's adjusted gross income (AGI) is higher than the highest AGI of any of the child's parents who can claim the child. (Your income is higher than the parents)
