Can the IRS Still Say You Can Be Claimed as a Dependent if You Don't Check That Box?

[LoyalDeserter]

I am 24 and a graduate student, so too old to be a qualifying child.  I don't live with my parents for more than half of the year, but I listed their house as my residence because my internship, bank account, driver's license, and voter registration are in the state they live in, not the state I attend college in.  The only taxable income I received in 2019 was money from a summer internship, amounting to less than $4,200.  I did not live with them the full year however, so I'm not a qualifying relative.   I did not check the box that says I can be claimed as a dependent by someone else on my 2019 return.  

Despite this, it has been a couple days since I filed, and I still get the, "Payment status not available," message from the IRS website.  Is it possible that because I made less than $4,200 and listed my address as the same as my parents that they think I could have been claimed as a dependent despite the fact that I did not check the box saying I could be?  Or is the portal just being slow?

[Hal_Al]

 "I did not live with them the full year however, so I'm not a qualifying relative."

That statement is wrong. The rule is:   Closely Related OR live with the taxpayer ALL year.  You, almost certainly, can be their  qualifying relative dependent.

The most likely reason for the delay (or non payment) of the stimulus is that you parents did claim you.  Verify that that didn't happen.  Otherwise, yes the IRS has red flagged your payment because you appear to qualify as a  dependent and you were a dependent in 2018.

But, in regards to the stimulus payment, when you file your 2020 income tax return, in 2021, you will be asked for information about the amount of the stimulus payment you received, and if it is less than you are entitled to, you will be given a credit on your 2020 tax return.

"In essence, the stimulus check acts as an advance of your 2020 income tax refund. This means when you prepare your 2020 income tax return, there will be a line to include the section 6428 credit. The credit on your 2020 return is subtracted by any amount received as a stimulus check in 2020. If the amount you received as a stimulus check is less than the credit you are due, the difference will be included as part of your 2020 refund. If you have been overpaid by receiving the stimulus check, however, you will not be required to return any excess amount".

[LoyalDeserter]

They did not claim me as a dependent.  They also do not provide more than half of my support.  They don't pay any of my tuition, and I pay for almost everything with student loan money and money I already had/got from my internship.  My parents' accountant told them that I couldn't be claimed as a dependent. 

Also, the software I used (H&R Block) said this: 

"For the IRS to accept you as a qualifying relative, you must pass all of these tests:

You must be the person's father, mother, stepparent, parent-in-law, uncle, aunt, son, daughter, stepchild, child-in-law, brother, sister, stepsibling, half sibling, or sibling-in-law, adopted child (or placed for adoption), eligible foster child (placed by an agency or court), or descendant of any of these.

You must have lived with the person all year

You must have received more than half of all your support from the person who wants to claim you. You can use a multiple support agreement (Form 2120) for this qualification."

[Hal_Al]

I doubt that H&RB would make that mistake.  You're reading it wrong.

A person can still be a Qualifying relative dependent, if not a Qualifying Child, if he meets the 6 tests for claiming a dependent:

1. Closely Related OR  (if not related) live with the taxpayer ALL year 
2. His/her gross taxable income for the year must be less than $4200 
3. The taxpayer must have provided more than 1/2 his support

In either case (Qualifying Child or Qualifying relative)

4. He must be a US citizen or resident of the US, Canada or Mexico
5. He must not file a joint return with his spouse 
6. He must not be the qualifying child of another taxpayer

full rules at: https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tools/tax-tips/Family/Rules-for-Claiming-a-Dependent-on-Your-Tax-Ret...

Support from student loans counts as the student supporting himself, unless the parent co-signed the loan.

At best, you can expect a delay in getting a stimulus payment.  But, at worst, you'll just have to wait til next year (early next year). 

[LoyalDeserter]

I copied that directly from them.  I had to delete the bullet points due to formatting, but it says "For the IRS to accept you as a qualifying relative, you must pass all of these tests:" followed by a series of bullet points, three of which I pasted above.  The relative requirement and the living-with-them requirement are entirely separate bullet points, as separate from each other as each is from every other bullet point.

[Hal_Al]

Here's the link to the IRS publication and dependent page

https://www.irs.gov/publications/p501#en_US_2019_publink1000196863

[fanfare]

bottom line:

since you meet the relationship test, you don't have to be living with the person claiming you.

[LoyalDeserter]

Also, confirmed now, my parents don't cosign my loans and don't pay for my expenses besides some meals when I'm home, so I can't be claimed as a dependent.  I kinda need that stimulus check this summer, so I hope that the IRS didn't just decide not to give me one for no good reason.