Dependant

[Chattyme]

Our 21 yr old daughter is now a grad school student and still living at home. How long can we claim her? Also she is 1/2 time student now for 2020. Does that change anything for 2020 taxes? 

[KurtL1 · Accepted solution]

You will be able to claim your daughter if she is:

• Be under age 19, or under age 24 and a full-time student for at least five months of the year.
• Be younger than you, unless they are permanently and totally disabled.
• Have lived with you for more than half the year.
• Not provide more than half of their own support.

A student carrying 12 or more credit hours in a fall or spring semester is considered a full-time student. 

If your daughter is not a full-time student, older than 19, and lives with you the entire year and makes less than $4.200 you can claim her as a dependent.

[Hal_Al]

There are two types of dependents, "Qualifying Children"(QC) and standard ("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. Only a QC qualifies a taxpayer for the Earned Income Credit. They are interrelated but the rules are different for each.

So yes, being over 19 and less than a full time student, means she cannot be a QC and must meet the Qualifying Relative rules to be your dependent for 2020. 

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 live with the taxpayer ALL year. Note it does not have to be both as the other answer said.
2. His/her gross taxable income for the year must be less than $4200 ($4300 in 2020)
3. The taxpayer must have provided more than 1/2 his support. Note how this test is slightly different from the support test for a QC

In either case:

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 or be claiming a dependent of his own
6. He must not be the qualifying child of another taxpayer