I am assuming your child is an undergraduate college student in 2020. Here's the rules for that.
First, understand three things that apply to an undergrad that meets the requirements to be claimed as a dependent on the parent's tax return.
1) There is "NO" requirement for the parents to provide the student any support. Not one single penny. The support requirement is on the student, and only the student.
2) The student's earnings do not matter. The student could earn a million dollars (literally!) and still qualify to be claimed as a dependent on the parent's tax return.
3) The key word in the rules is *QUALIFY*. If the student *qualifies* to be claimed as a dependent on the parent's tax return, then it flat out does not matter if the parents actually claim the student or not. If the student is required to file a tax return, then the student must select the option for "I can be claimed on someone else's tax return." Again, it does not matter if the parents actually claim the student, or not.
Dependent Child Rules
If the child is under the age of 19 on Dec 31 of the tax year
*******************OR*****************
-If the child is under the age of 24 on Dec 31 of the tax year and;
-The child was enrolled as a full time student for *any* *one* *semester* that started in the tax year and;
-The child was enrolled in an accredited institution, and;
- The child was enrolled in a course of study that will lead to a degree *or* credentialed certification, and;
-The child did *not* provide more than half of their own support for the entire tax year (scholarships, grants, 529 distributions, gifts from Aunt Mary, money from parents and any other third party income *do* *not* *count* for the child providing their own support.) then;
The parents qualify to claim the child as a dependent on the parent's tax return.
So with the above, understand that the parents have a choice to claim the child, or not claim the child if the parents' *qualify* to claim the chile.
The child/student does "NOT" have a choice. If the parents qualify to claim the child/student on the parent's tax return, and the child/student is required to file a tax return, then the child/student *must* select the option for "I can be claimed on someone else's tax return."
The reason I'm pointing all this out, is because I've heard/seen where many students are claiming they do not qualify to be claimed as a dependent, when I suspect (only a suspicion, I admit) they do not qualify, so they can get the stimulus payment. It is my strong belief that starting sometime in the next 24-36 months, the IRS is going to start auditing the tax returns of those college students, and find that they in fact do "not" qualify for the stimulus. With that, I would fully expect the IRS to demand a refund of said stimulus payment, along with interest, penalties and fines for filing what would essentially be a fraudulent return.
More of my personal opinion on this. (and we all know what opinions are like.) While there is a statute of limitations for the IRS to catch errors, that statute does not apply when the IRS has reasonable suspicion of fraud. With the way those in control have been basically "raiding the treasury" to keep our economy afloat, it's eventually going to get to a point where that just can't be done anymore, and the need to either "recover or crash" will cause such massive audits down the road here. (thats my two cents is all.)
