Total Support

[Acku]

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]

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?

[Acku]

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]

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

[Acku]

My primary goal is to file correctly. Yes, i am above income limits so would not get the tuition credit.  She supported via W2 earnings and student loans that are fully in her name. 

[Hal_Al]

Rule of thumb: if the support question is so close that you're "fine tuning" the calculations, then the student is still your dependent.  Most college age students are still dependents. 

Two different support rules:

1. In order to claim the refundable portion of the AOC, her W-2 income needs to be more than half her support. 

2. In order to not be your dependent , she only needs to provide more than half her own support from all her resources, W-2, loans, savings (but not scholarships). 

While technically there is a provision that allows your student-dependent to claim a federal tuition credit, from a practical matter it seldom works out.  A student, under age 24, even if not a dependent, is only eligible for the refundable portion of the American Opportunity Credit (AOTC) if he/she supports himself by working. She cannot be supporting herself on student loans & grants and 529 plans and parental support.  It is usually best if the parent claims that credit.  

If the student actually has a tax liability, there is a provision to allow him to claim a non-refundable tuition credit. But then the parent must forgo claiming the student as a dependent, and the $500 other dependent credit.  The student must still indicate that he can be claimed as a dependent, on his return. This is worth up to $2500 (AOTC shifts to all non refundable)