My 17 year old joined the Marines on May 28th, 2024. His 18th birthday was the same day he graduated boot camp, in August 2024. He is still in advanced training (it's now Jan 2025). He was a full time student until he graduated a week before he left for bootcamp. Can I claim him as dependent for head of household? I'm divorced so can't claim for deduction or child tax, only head of household and EIC. This answer also effects his father who does get the dependent deductions.
Yes, your son was a student for part of the year and was under the age of 19, so you can claim him for HOH filing status and the EIC. His other parent will get the $500 credit for other dependents. The Child Tax Credit went away when your son turned 17. If your son is going to file a 2024 tax return of his own, make sure he knows to say on his own return that he can be claimed as someone else's dependent.
Yes, your son was a student for part of the year and was under the age of 19, so you can claim him for HOH filing status and the EIC. His other parent will get the $500 credit for other dependents. The Child Tax Credit went away when your son turned 17. If your son is going to file a 2024 tax return of his own, make sure he knows to say on his own return that he can be claimed as someone else's dependent.
While your child is still in training (basic and advanced), he is considered as still living in your home, for tax purposes. So, he meets the residency rule as well as the age rule (the student rule is actually not relevant since he is under 19 on 12/31/24).
There are two types of dependents, "Qualifying Children"(QC) and Other ("Qualifying Relative" in IRS parlance even though they don't have to actually be related). There is no income limit for a QC but there is an age limit, student status, a relationship test and residence test.
A child of a taxpayer can still be a “Qualifying Child” (QC) dependent, regardless of his/her income, if:
So, it doesn't matter how much he earned. What matters is how much he spent on support. Money he put into savings does not count as support he spent on himself.
The support value of the home, provided by the parent, is the fair market rental value of the home plus utilities & other expenses divided by the number of occupants. You count him as living there until he gets his permanent assignment.
The IRS has a worksheet that can be used to help with the support calculation. See: http://apps.irs.gov/app/vita/content/globalmedia/teacher/worksheet_for_determining_support_4012.pdf