Claiming Dependant

[reneemarie1]

My daughter is 19 and attends college full-time. She works part-time. She lives near her school and was only home 2-3 months total last year. We do provide more than half her support. Turbo Tax says can not claim as a dependent? Guessing not an issue last year since, school started in August which put her living at home for over half the year? Doesn't seem right if we are still supporting her?

[DoninGA]

For a child in college you need to indicate that they lived with you for the whole year.  A temporary absence for school is still considered living in your home.

You should be able to claim her as your dependent if she is a full time student and under the age of 24 using the Qualifying Child rules.

To be a Qualifying Child -

1. The child must be your son, daughter, stepchild, foster child, brother, sister, half brother, half sister, stepbrother, stepsister, or a descendant of any of them.
2. The child must be (a) under age 19 at the end of the year, (b) under age 24 at the end of the year and a full-time student or (c) any age and permanently and totally disabled.
3. The child must have lived with you for more than half of the year. Temporary absences while away at college are considered living with you.
4. The child must not have provided more than half of his or her own support for the year.
5. If the child meets the rules to be a qualifying child of more than one person, you must be the person entitled to claim the child as a qualifying child.
6. The child must be a U.S. citizen or U.S., Canada or Mexico resident for some portion of the year.
7. The child must be younger than you unless disabled.

[Carl]

Two things.

We do provide more than half her support.

1. There is no requirement for the parent to provide the college student any support. Not one single penny. The support requirement is on the student, and only the student. That requirement reads:

 If the student did not provide more than half of the student's own support, then the parents qualify to claim the student as a dependent on the parent's tax return. Scholarships, grants, 529 distributions, gifts from Aunt Mary, etc., do not count for the student providing their own support.

So the question asking if the student provided more than half their own support was most likely not interpreted correctly when you read it, and you mistakenly selected YES when you should have selected NO. So go back and check that, and change if necessary.

was only home 2-3 months total last year.

2. When asked how long the student lived with you, read the small print. It tells you that time spent away from home for the purpose of attending school, counts has having lived with you. So you *MUST* select that the student lived with you for the whole year.