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Education
There are two types of dependents, "Qualifying Children"(QC) and Other ("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 and the Child Tax Credit.
A child of a taxpayer can still be a “Qualifying Child” (QC) dependent, regardless of his/her income, if:
- He is under age 19, or under 24 if a full time student for at least 5 months of the year, or is totally & permanently disabled
- He did not provide more than 1/2 his own support. Scholarships are excluded from the support calculation
- He lived with the parent (including temporary absences such as away at school) for more than half the year
Q. Does IRS accepts a High School Home School as a school, for purposes of the QC (and EIC) full time student rule?
A. No.
Student defined. To qualify as a student, your
child must be, during some part of each of any 5
calendar months of the year:
1. A full-time student at a school that has a
regular teaching staff, course of study, and
a regularly enrolled student body at the
school; or
2. A student taking a full-time, on-farm training course given by a school described in
(1), or by a state,
Full-time student. A full-time student is a
student who is enrolled for the number of hours
or courses the school considers to be full-time
attendance.
School defined. A school can be an elementary school; junior or senior high school;
college; university; or technical, trade, or mechanical school. However, an on-the-job training course, correspondence school, or school
offering courses only through the Internet
doesn’t count as a school.
Vocational high school students. Students who work on “co-op” jobs in private industry as a part of a school's regular course of
classroom and practical training are considered
full-time students.
Reference: Publication 17; pages 28-29
https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p17.pdf