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Uncertain About IRS Student and Dependent Status

Mochina — Mon, 23 Jan 2023 21:55:17 GMT

Our son worked at an Americorps' related nonprofit organization from January through part of June, 2022 in Portland, Oregon. He returned home to Torrance, CA. in August, and started a Master's degree graduate school program in September. I understand that the IRS considers a person as a student if he/she attends a college for part of any 5 calendar months of the year.

1) So he is not considered a student (for Turbotax occupation question) even though his college considers him a full-time student, and will be a full-time student for at least the next 2 years?

2) If he is not considered a student by the IRS/TT, do we answer the "occupation" question based on the job that he had earlier in 2022? While taking a full-time student class load, he is also working on campus part-time. Should his campus part-time job be considered his "occupation"?

3) If he is not considered a student according to the IRS/TT, does this affect the reporting of a 1099 Q form received from a 529 for qualified educational expenses?

4) He turned 24 years old in 2022, so he can no longer be considered a dependent, regardless of the amount of support we give him?

Thanks.

Re: Uncertain About IRS Student and Dependent Status

DavidD66 — Mon, 23 Jan 2023 22:14:22 GMT

Your son can put "Student" as his occupation. What you put for occupation has no affect whatsoever on the tax return. He can put anything he wants for his occupation.

Re: Uncertain About IRS Student and Dependent Status

xmasbaby0 — Mon, 23 Jan 2023 22:17:50 GMT

4) He turned 24 years old in 2022, so he can no longer be considered a dependent, regardless of the amount of support we give him?

If he is over 23, you cannot claim him as a dependent if he had more than $4400 of income in 2022.

Re: Uncertain About IRS Student and Dependent Status

xmasbaby0 — Mon, 23 Jan 2023 22:27:00 GMT

As DavidD66 explained "occupation" has no effect on your son's tax refund or tax due. "Occupation" as entered in My Info is only used for statistical purposes by the IRS. It does not really matter what you put. But if he is a student, he can say he is a student in order to get education credits. As a grad student he may be able to take advantage of the Lifetime Learning Credit. Not sure.....because the LLC only reduces your tax liability, and we do not know how much he actually earned---you did not say. We do not know if he has a tax liability. We only know he worked for Americorps and then had a part time job in school.

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/3262984-who-is-eligible-for-the-lifetime-learning-credit

Re: Uncertain About IRS Student and Dependent Status

Mochina — Mon, 23 Jan 2023 22:52:54 GMT

xmasbaby0, he will likely have some tax liability since he received an Americorps Education Award which is taxable. Based on the link you provided, he seems to qualify for Lifetime Learning Credit. Also, as you and DavidD66 mentioned, I now understand that I can enter "student" under occupation. But please confirm that my son does not qualify as a "student" according to the IRS definition, since he was only a student for the last 4 months of 2022, and doesn't qualify as a dependent because he is 24 years of age. And how does his not qualifying as a "student" affect the 529 reporting, if at all?

Re: Uncertain About IRS Student and Dependent Status

Mochina — Mon, 23 Jan 2023 23:07:45 GMT

To further clarify, even if he is not deemed a "student" by IRS/TT definition, he can still enter higher education expenses and report, if necessary, the 1098T and 1099-Q?