ny dependents

[blk1948]

A college student files his Federal return as Single (not being claimed as a dependent by somebody else) so the student can make use of Education Credits (which the parents would not be able to take).  The students NY return is filed as single with zero as College Tuition Credit.  Parents do not take him as a dependent on their Federal tax return.  Can the parents take him as a dependent on their NY return so they can get the NY College Tuition Credit?  Or is their NY dependents limited to the Federal number of dependents, in this case 0?  How do you add dependents to NY in Turbotax in this case (if it is allowed)?

[ColeenD3]

First of all, there is a common idea that a parent can just decide not to claim a dependent so that they can reap certain benefits. The truth is, a qualifying child or a qualifying relative is your dependent. While you can certainly choose not to claim your child, the child MUST indicate on his own return that he is a dependent, but that no one will actually claim him as such.

Please see this thread regarding claiming a child on a state return, but not a Federal.

[blk1948]

How does one indicate in Turbotax that the college student, although can be claimed as a qualifying child dependent on someone else's return, will not be claimed as a dependent on that person's tax return? The student's return in Turbotax has the box checked "can be claimed as a dependent by someone else" but the parents did not claim the student on their Turbotax tax return. They want to claim him as a dependent on their NY return in order to get his exemption and for the College Tuition credit, which seems okay by NY, see next paragraph.

The NY IT-201 instructions state the following in Item H;   Item H on the NY IT-201 instructions state in an example "You were entitled to claim your child as a dependent on your Federal return but chose not to in order to allow them to claim a federal education credit on their federal tax return; you may still claim them as a dependent on your New York State return".  So this (do not take dependent on federal but take on NY) is okay by NY.

I am also wondering why Turbotax allowed the student to take the Federal Education credit in the first place considering the box "can be claimed by another" was checked?

[RaifH]

To answer the second question first, if the dependent is eligible to be claimed by someone but is not claimed by anyone, then the student can take the American Opportunity Credit. For more information, see IRS Publication 970. 

As you pointed out NY does have an exception that allows you to claim your child on your state return if you did not claim them federally. In order to do this in TurboTax, as noted in the thread that @ColeenD3 linked, you will have to make two returns. One would be for your federal tax without your dependent which can be electronically filed without the state. The second would have your dependent info and be only for the NY return. Since an electronically filed return requires the federal return with it, this would have to be paper-filed because you would not be filing the federal return.