- I have an odd suspicion that you are looking at having your children qualify for the stimulus payment. If my suspicion is correct, it won't work.
Your children being employed really doesn't play into this. While *YOU* have a choice to claim them or not on your own tax return, it's highly probable that your children do not have a choice.
If you are providing them food and housing at no cost to them, then I doubt that they provide more than 50% of their own support, and I also have no doubt that you provide more than 50% of their support. Therefore, your children will *qualify* as your dependent. Understand that the key word here is *QUALIFY*. Weather you actually claim them or not is irrelevant.
On the child's tax return they will be asked if "THEY" provide more than 50% of "their own" support. If they do not, then they "qualify" as your dependent. Therefore they "must" select the box for "I can be claimed on someone else's tax return". It does not matter if you actually claim them or not either.
As to "exactly" what questions are asked to the student by the program, depends on their age and student status. For example, if they are in college and under the age of 24 and indicate they can "NOT" be claimed on another tax return, if their "EARNED" income is not sufficient to justify a claim to providing more than half of their own support, that child can expect to be audited anywhere from 24 to 36 months after they file the tax return.
