American Oppt Tax Credit - Not Claiming my 18 College student

[kRAIG0606]

Due to AGI we do not qualify for any educational tax breaks for my 18 yo daughters college tuition.  Claiming her as a dependent, gets us $500 off at this point as a child credit, but it might make more sense to not claim her and let her take the American Oppt Tax Credit, upwards of $2,500 credit.  The question I have is, can I just not claim her and she files single to take the credit?   Is this a mistake given we do provide her entire cost of living for her?    To do this in Turbo she must answer that she does provide most her cost of living her self.  I feel the IRS only has issue with people claiming dependents when they are not rather than the other way around?  Thank you!  

[xmasbaby0]

The rule is if a child can be claimed as a dependent, they must say on their return that they can be claimed.   And that rule stands even if the child is not claimed.    There is not an element of choice in that.  Sorry..  Dependents cannot get education credits.

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/3262983-who-is-eligible-to-take-the-american-opportunity-tax-credi...

[MinhT1]

If your daughter is under 19 (or under 24 and a full time student) and she does not provide more than half of his own support for the tax year, you can claim her as a dependent. 

You do have the choice of not claiming her. If you do not claim her, then you lose the Other dependent credit of $500 and you cannot claim her education credit from her form 1098-T.

As for your daughter, on her own tax return, she is asked the question whether she paid more than half of his living expenses with earned income. If the answer is No, then she must say that she can claimed as a dependent by someone else. 

If someone can claim her as a dependent but does not actually claim her, she can claim the non-refundable part of the American Opportunity credit (which is beneficial only if she has tax liability), but not the refundable part.