Hi Carl, My son has lived with me for about 1 month, and about 5 months in college, hence 6 months total. My son spent slightly more than half the year with his father, internationally. I understand how the tax liability works that you mentioned, as well as how 40% of the AOTC is refundable even if the tax liability is 0.
My question is you said "It's my understanding that if you do not report the student lived with you "the whole year" then you the parent don't get any education credits for that student." Where did you find this? Apologies but I have been spending a hefty amount of time searching for this condition through IRS documents and instructions, but could not find it anywhere. On the AOTC IRS page, there are no such requirments https://www.irs.gov/credits-deductions/individuals/aotc. If you mean for all education credits, then I cannot find anything endorsing or contradicting your statement and would like to know where you found this rule?
If this was a rule however, then I would have thought Turbo Tax would automatically disqualify me from the AOTC? I did put in my turbo tax that my son was with me for 6 months (less than the 183 days required) and yet it said I still qualify for the AOTC. Thank you and I look forward to hearing back from you!
Edit: are you thinking of this in terms of being a dependent? I know if my son is not a dependent, I cannot get education credits. However, my son is still my dependent even without living with me for half the year. Yes, my son does not qualify for the "qualifying child" for not staying with me for more than half the year. However, he does qualify for "qualifying relative" which does not have the half year requirement.
