I am the parent of a student (age 23) in grad school who also worked. I provide some support. I make more money than allows (benefits) me to claim him as a dependent. I have not claimed him as a dependent in the past few years. When I am helping him do his taxes, we always check the box that says Yes someone else can claim him, but then we we also check the next box that "Even though they can, no one will". This has not been an issue until this year.
This year, if I can appropriately NOT check the box (on his taxes) that someone else can claim him, then he becomes eligible for stimulus recovery of $1800. Again, he is mostly independent (loans and work finance his school), but we do provide some support.
Can I legally/safely UNCHECK the box on his taxes or not (that asks if someone else can claim his as a dependent)?
No, only if he does not meet all requirements to be your dependent then you can uncheck the box.
Please review the requirements of claiming a dependent:
Qualifying child
The issue here will most likely be if he provide more than half of his own support for the year. Please see Worksheet for Determining Support to calculate if he provided more than half of his own support. If yes, then he cannot be claimed as a dependent and select this legally on his return.
Yeah, that’s what I figured. So in the end he gets nothing for claiming himself and I get nothing for claiming him. And neither of us gets the stimulus money.
I pay a lot of taxes now, and his generation pays a lot of taxes for the next hundred years. Strong work liberals.
Thank you though for the answer.