Do I have to claim my son as a dependent?

[valady757]

My husband and I file jointly, and have one child still living at home.  He just turned 21, is a full time student at a local community college, but also worked last year for six month full time earning over $17k.  

He has to file his own return, and I have started both returns on TurboTax using the desktop version.  We have always claimed him as a dependent, but this year there seems to be a big benefit to not claiming him.  My husband's and my combined salary is too high to get any benefit from his tuition, and as I understand it he made too much for us to qualify for even the $500 Other Dependent Credit.  However if we don't claim him, he gets a tax credit for tuition as well as a stimulus check.  

So my question is do I have to claim him as a dependent? I know I CAN claim him as a dependent, but am I am REQUIRED to do so?  

I have searched all sorts of help sites and even the IRS website and all I can find is rules on when and who can claim dependents.  Not what happens if someone is technically a dependent but you do not claim them.

thanks for any help I can get on this matter.

[RaifH]

You are not required to do so, but he may be required to mark that he CAN be claimed as a dependent. He must mark his return that he can be claimed as a dependent if he does not provide more than half his own support. The IRS provides a worksheet to help determine support.  

If he can be claimed as a dependent, even if he is not actually claimed, he is disqualified from the recovery rebate credit that he would get from not receiving a stimulus check, but he still may be able to claim the American Opportunity Credit. The IRS has a special carve-out for this credit where you can claim it even if you are eligible to be claimed as a dependent as long as no one is actually claiming you as a dependent. 

Even though he would not get the stimulus, the benefit he receives from the American Opportunity Credit may outweigh the additional tax you would pay for not claiming him. Remember to look at the whole picture, including your state return to make this determination. 

[valady757]

Oh thank you!  That makes much more sense.  I had not clicked the button that said "someone else can claim you as a dependent."  When I go back and click that and then click the "no one will claim" button on his return it looks like he loses the stimulus benefit but keeps the tuition tax credit.  Which sounds more what I would have expected.

But I will also go through the tax return more to make sure, and look at the state return as you suggested.