Neither. But in order for you to claim her as a child dependent, the requirement is that she did not provide for more than half of her support. You don't have to provide over 50% support to claim your child as a dependent -- As long as she did not provide over half of her own support, you can still claim her as a dependent.
If a parent or someone else (or a 529 plan) paid for more than half of her living expenses, she did not support herself. If she used unearned income or student loans to pay for most of her expenses, she did not support herself.
What does "financially support another person" mean? This FAQ is referring to ADULT dependents. The rules are different for child (including FT students) dependents. See below:
You can claim a Qualifying child if:
- They're related to you.
- They aren't claimed as a dependent by someone else.
- They're a U.S. citizen, resident alien, national, or a Canadian or Mexican resident.
- They aren’t filing a joint return with their spouse.
- They're under the age of 19 (or 24 for full-time students).
- No age limit for permanently and totally disabled children.
- They lived with you for more than half the year (exceptions apply). Time away at school counts as living with you
- They didn't provide more than half of their own support for the year. ***
*** For your child dependent, you can claim them if they do not provide over half of their support. For adult dependents, you have to provide more than 50% of their support in order to claim them as a dependent on your tax return.
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