topic My 23 year old daughter is no longer our dependent, she's a graduate student paying for her own college. Should she file taxes to get the Lifetime learning credit? in Education

My 23 year old daughter is no longer our dependent, she's a graduate student paying for her own college. Should she file taxes to get the Lifetime learning credit?

terib19-gmail-co — Mon, 23 Feb 2026 13:33:06 GMT

She had no income last year and is paying for grad school herself. With no income, we want to know if she should file a tax return for last year to get the Lifetime Learning tax credit or not

Re: My 23 year old daughter is no longer our dependent, she's a graduate student paying for her own college. Should she file taxes to get the Lifetime learning credit?

xmasbaby0 — Thu, 02 Feb 2023 23:52:48 GMT

The Lifetime Learning Credit is not refundable. It can only reduce tax owed down to zero. If she had no taxable income and will not owe tax, the Credit does not do anything for her.

Re: My 23 year old daughter is no longer our dependent, she's a graduate student paying for her own college. Should she file taxes to get the Lifetime learning credit?

terib19-gmail-co — Thu, 02 Feb 2023 23:56:13 GMT

That's very helpful. Thank you