Total Support

Forum|Forum|2 years ago
February 8, 2024
1 reply
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I am trying to determine if my college student daughter provided at least half her own support. What do I include for transportation and recreation support cost in the total support calculation?

She drove my car in the summer. Is the cost of maintenance or insurance supposed to be in the calculation?

Ww took a family vacation. Does the cost of that trip (1 person portion) count as support or is the recreation bucket for more “general” activities? Can the vacation be a gift?

CatinaT1

Level 15

If she is a college student, under normal circumstances, she would likely not have provided at least half of her support, but I have included some resources for you to determine.

Here is a worksheet the IRS has to determine this: Determining Support

This might also help: What does "financially support another person" mean?

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AckuAuthor

Level 2

Using tuition, room and board, rent, food, utliities, she paid more than half her support. It changes to less than half if the cost of family vacations is included in her total support. How much “recreation” goes in the support calculation to enter in the IRS form. I dont see any guidance from IRS on specifics to include.
also, she typically uses public transportation on campus but borrowed my car in the summer months when home. How do I determine support cost for that?

Hal_Al

Level 15

What source of funds did she use to pay for tuition, room and board, rent, food, utilities? Scholarships are third party support and not support provided by her. Loans that you co-signed are considered provided by you.

Yes, you can count her share of the car and vacations as being provided by you. They're not gifts, they're support. For the car, you can use actual cost, including maintenance and insurance or the the IRS mileage rate ($0.655/mile).

What is it that you are trying to accomplish? If it's to shift the America Opportunity Credit (AOC) to her, because you are not eligible, there's an additional obstacle: her support must come from her own earned income.

Reference: Line 7 instructions for form 8863. https://www.irs.gov/instructions/i8863