Q. Am I correct, the answer to the question is NO?
A. Yes. You were not a full time student for 2023 because you were enrolled for less than (parts of) 5 calendar months. The months do not have to be consecutive, so if you went back to school later. in the year, that would count toward the 5 months.
Q. Am I correct that I therefore CANNOT be claimed as a dependent?
A. No. That only means, you can't be claimed as a dependent, under the "Qualifying Child" rules. We would then look to see if you qualified as a dependent under the "Qualifying Relative" rules, mainly that your income was less than $4700.
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. They are interrelated but the rules are different for each.
The support test is different for each type. The support test, for a QC, is only that the child didn't provide more than half his own support. The support test for a Qualifying Relative is that the taxpayer provided more than half the relative's support.
See full dependent rules at: https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tools/tax-tips/Family/Rules-for-Claiming-a-Dependent-on-Your-Tax-Ret...
Q. If my senior year classes started in February and ended in May, was I only a student for 4 months?
A. That's for you to determine, based on the facts.
