topic Is a recent college graduate who's parent paid tuition considered independent if they started working and covering their own expenses? in Education

Is a recent college graduate who's parent paid tuition considered independent if they started working and covering their own expenses?

4jan6r0nbm3 — Thu, 06 Jun 2019 12:46:57 GMT

I graduated in 2017 (under the age of 24) and stayed 2 months at home before getting hired and moving out on my own. Outside of college tuition payments, I've been supporting myself with jobs I had in college and after I graduated, but I believe my tuition might be more that what I've earned so far. If this does turn out to be the case, I was wondering if that still makes me a dependent (I'm fairly certain I've made more than 12 grand but am unsure if that even matters). However, if I'm considered independent, do my parents lose being able to write off those tuition payments on their taxes and do grants/scholarships I earned college now become a part of my taxes? I''m sorry if it's a bit convoluted, wasn't quite sure how I could narrow my question down.

You're under the age of 24 on Dec 31 of 2017, so your inc...

Carl — Thu, 06 Jun 2019 12:46:58 GMT

You're under the age of 24 on Dec 31 of 2017, so your income "might" not matter here. Here's what does matter.

Were you enrolled as a full time student for any one semester that started in the tax year? (Yes, for sure, and you were a student for 5 months of the tax year too. Even if you graduated on May 1st, the entire month of May counts.)

Did *YOU* (not your parents) provide MORE than 50% of YOUR OWN support for 2017? Scholarships, grants, gifts from Aunt Mary, 1099-Q funds just flat out *do not count* for you providing your own support. Note that there is NO requirements for your parents to provide any support. Not one single penny. The support requirement is all on you, the student.

How many months did you live with your parents? (Note that time spent away from home for the primary purpose of attending school is time considered to have been living with your parents.)

Now on that last question, for you it would be 7 or 8 months you lived at home. Now I'm not 100% positive on this, but I do believe that since you did not "live at home" (by the IRS definition) for the entire year, your parents do not qualify to claim you as a dependent on their tax return.

However to confirm that, when your parent's work through the program (assuming they use TurboTax also) and indicate that you lived with them for less than "the whole year", I would "expect" the program to tell them they can't claim you as a dependent.

The following was written to answer a parent asking the s...

Hal_Al — Thu, 06 Jun 2019 12:47:01 GMT

The following was written to answer a parent asking the same question.

Graduation year

If he/she was a student (under 24) for at least 5 months and lived with you for more than half the year, and did not provide more than 1/2 his own support for the whole year, you can still claim him. Be sure he knows you're claiming him, so he doesn't claim himself. He can only be claimed once. But, he can "file taxes" without claiming his own exemption.

The real question is who should be claiming him in this "transition" year to adulthood. You two have to agree on who is going to claim his exemption. Each should do their taxes both ways and see which way the family comes out best. Even then, you have to meet the rules. The rule is that a child of a taxpayer can still be a “Qualifying Child” dependent, regardless of his income, if:

1. he is a full time student under 24 for at least 5 calendar months of the year (graduating in May usually means you meet the 5 month rule)

2. he did not provide more than 1/2 his own support (scholarships are considered 3rd party support and not support provided by the student).

3. lived with the parent (including time away at school) for more than half the year

So, it usually hinges on "Did he provide more than 1/2 his own support in 2017.

The support value of the home you provided is the fair market rental value of the home plus utilities & other expenses divided by the number of occupants. IRS Publication 501 on page 20 has a worksheet that can be used to help with the support calculation. See: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p501.pdf