You may qualify to claim her as a dependent since she is under the age of 24, and goes to school full time, as long as she has not provided more than half of her own support for the year.
In general, your child must qualify to be your dependent under the qualifying child or qualifying relative rules. Please view those rules below.
1. Qualifying child rules:
- Relationship: Must be your child, adopted child, foster-child, brother or sister, or a descendant of one of these (grand or nephew).
- Residence: Must have the same residence for more than half the year.
- Age: Must be under age 19 or under 24 and a full-time student for at least 5 months. They can be any age if they are totally and permanently disabled.
- Support: Must not have provided more than half of their own support during the year.
- Joint Support: The child cannot file a joint return for the year.
2. Qualifying relative rules:
- They are not the “qualifying child” of another taxpayer or your “qualifying child”.
- Gross Income: Dependent earns less than $4,200 in 2019.
- Total Support: You provide more than half of the total support for the year.
- Member of Household or Relationship: The person (a friend, girlfriend, non-blood relative) must live with you all year as a member of your household or be one of the relatives that don’t have to live with you.
If she does qualify as your dependent, then you can claim her and she can still file her own return. However, she will need to indicate that you are claiming her as a dependent when doing so.
