Can I decline to claim my qualifying College Student as a Dependent so they can get a Covid Stimulus Credit?

[El_Lobo]

My child is a college student and qualifies to be claimed as a dependent on my tax return. I provide well over half of their support.

If I choose not to claim them, can they qualify for the Covid Stimulus Credit?

When asked "Can somebody else claim them as a dependent?" the answer is "Yes". They can be claimed. But, what if I choose not to claim them? Do they still have to say somebody else can claim them even if nobody else will claim them as a dependent?

[El_Lobo]

I think I can answer my own question now.

I've tried doing a few "What-If" scenarios in TurboTax. When I am working on my college student's return and answer that they can be claimed as a dependent on someone else's return, the next question is "Will they be claimed as someone else's dependent?"  If I answer "No", they won't be claimed as a dependent, I no longer get the Covid Stimulus Credit dialogue. Also, the credit will disappear if I edit a return where I originally said they could not be claimed as a dependent. 

[ColeenD3]

You have the choice to not claim your dependent, but that does not mean that they can claim themselves as independent. There are two questions, "will" anyone claim me and "can" anyone claim me. Even though you won't claim them, you are entitled to do so. They do not qualify for the benefits a nondependent would.

[Opus 17]

If a person qualifies to be claimed as a dependent, they must answer "yes, I can be claimed as a dependent", even if the person who could claim them, agrees not to.  Answering "no, I can't be claimed" in order to qualify for a rebate may be considered tax fraud, although we don't know yet how efficient the IRS will be at auditing such issues.  The IRS has 3 years to audit normal returns, and 6 years in the event of deliberate fraud.

There is a second question, "will the person who could claim you actually claim you".  This only relates to the claiming of the American Opportunity Credit.  In some cases, if the student has income earned from working and the parent's income is too high to claim the full AOC, it may be to overall advantage for the parents to decline to claim the child and the child to claim the AOC.  But the child/student must still answer "yes" to the first question.