Impact of loosing dependents

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My oldest graduated college in May and my youngest graduated high school in May. Neither are currently full time enrolled students. Does that mean I can no longer claim them as dependents and, if so, what impact will that have on my taxes? I have one more pay period left where I can increase my pretax retirement savings and am unsure if I will need to.

M-MTax

Level 15

Impact on Your Taxes

Loss of Personal Exemptions & Child Tax Credit: The traditional personal exemption for dependents is suspended, and the Child Tax Credit only applies to children under age 17. Therefore, simply losing them as dependents does not trigger a massive direct tax-credit penalty based on age alone (since neither is under 17).

Filing Status & Other Credits: If you were relying on them to file as Head of Household (which requires a qualifying dependent living with you for more than half the year), losing that status could increase your tax rate or lower your standard deduction. Otherwise, the impact on your tax bracket is typically minimal unless you were claiming specific education-related tax credits or dependent care credits.

Joslercm1Author

New Member

Thank you. I was filing Head of Household and it looks like now I will need to file as Single so the standard deduction is less, however I itemize my deductions because they always exceed the standardized deductions, even as HOH. Thank again.