Am I a dependent?

[hbrochu24]

I'm 20 and a sophomore in college. I moved out of my parents house in july of 2012 before I started college. I don't live at home anymore, am I still considered a dependent? I go to school full time and work about 30hrs a week and made $12,000. this past year

[Hal_Al · Accepted solution]

It depends on what " I moved out of my parents house and  don't live at home anymore". really means and what your parents think it means. Also the support question needs to be answered.

A child of a taxpayer can still be a “Qualifying Child” (QC) dependent, regardless of his/her income, if:

1. He is under age 19, or under 24 if a full time student for at least 5 months of the year, or is totally & permanently disabled

2. He did not provide more than 1/2 his own support

3. He lived with the parent (or was temporarily away such as at school) for more than half the year

Going away to college is usually considered a temporary absence. If you live in a dorm, you are definitely temporarily away. But even if you live off campus, whether you have "moved out" is dependent on the circumstances. IRS Publication 501 on page 15 has a worksheet that can be used to help with the support calculation. See: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p501.pdf

Bottom line: it's whatever you and your parents agree it is. If you can't agree, the IRS will decide for you if you both try to claim your exemption.

Two things you should be aware of:

1. There is a rule that says IF somebody else CAN claim YOU as a dependent, You are not allowed to claim your own exemption. If you have  sufficient income (usually more than $5950),  you can & should still file taxes, you just don’t get your own $3900 exemption (deduction). In TurboTax, you indicate that somebody else can claim you as a dependent.

2. There are restrictions on a student claiming himself and getting the refundable portion of the American Opportunity credit.  A student, under age 24, is only eligible if he supports himself by working . You cannot be supporting yourself on student loans & grants.   It is usually best if the parent claims the credit rather than the student. He/she does not qualify for the (up to) $1,000 refundable portion of the American Opportunity Credit (AOC) if items 1, 2, and 3 below apply to him. 

1. He was:
.....a. Under age 18 at the end of 2012, or 
......b. Age 18 at the end of 2012 and his earned income was less than one-half of his support, or 
......c. A full-time student over age 18 and under age 24 at the end of 2012 and his earned income was less than one-half of his support .
2. At least one of his parents was alive at the end of 2012.
3. He is not filing a joint return with his spouse for 2012.

[Deb43]

I recently moved and now I have a new address and a new telephone number and I can't get back into my account I've done my taxes through you for two or three years now and I I don't know what to do about it I'd like to stay with you but if I can't get in I'm going to have to go to some other place

[CarissaM]

If you have been locked out and need assistance logging in, please click here to contact customer support. 

[SundayInSalem]

You can fill out an account recovery request. See Account Recovery Request for your TurboTax Account.

TurboTax will process your request during regular business hours (8 a.m. - 5 p.m. PST, Monday-Friday). If you submit after hours, we'll process the request the next morning.

For your security, only you can make changes to your TurboTax account. The TurboTax phone support team doesn't have access to update or modify your account information.

[lychee]

What if a fulltime college student gets his money from multiple sources, e.g.  1/3 from parents, almost 1/3 gift from grandparents, and more than 1/3 from a job.  Since neither parent or grandparent pays for more than 50% of child's support, they cannot claim him as a dependent?

During pandemic, child couldn't work but collected pandemic unemployment that equalled or exceeded what he would have earned from his job. Does that make a difference to the support calculation?

[PattiF]

Your parents don't need to pay for more than half of your support if you are a full-time student and 24 or younger. The child has to pay for less than half of their support to qualify as a dependent. If you are 25 or older, then you would be able to file as a nondependent.

See this TurboTax Help article about claiming a dependent.

[Hal_Al]

There are two types of dependents, "Qualifying Children"(QC) and Other ("Qualifying Relative" in IRS parlance even though they don't have to actually be related). There is no income limit for a QC but there is an age limit, student status, a relationship test and residence test. Only a QC qualifies a taxpayer for the Earned Income Credit and the Child Tax Credit. They are interrelated but the rules are different for each.

The support test is different for each type. The support test, for a QC, is only that the child didn't provide more than half his own support. The support test for a Qualifying Relative is that the taxpayer provided more than half the relative's support.

A child of a taxpayer can still be a “Qualifying Child” (QC) dependent, regardless of his/her income, if:

1. He is under age 19, or under 24 if a full time student for at least 5 months of the year, or is totally & permanently disabled
2. He did not provide more than 1/2 his own support. Scholarships are excluded from the support calculation
3. He lived with the parent (including temporary absences such as away at school) for more than half the year

So, it doesn't matter how much he earned. What matters is how much he spent on support. Money he put into savings does not count as support he spent on him self.

The support value of the home, provided by the parent, is the fair market rental value of the home plus utilities & other expenses divided by the number of occupants.

The IRS has a worksheet that can be used to help with the support calculation. See: http://apps.irs.gov/app/vita/content/globalmedia/teacher/worksheet_for_determining_support_4012.pdf