Claiming my Daughter on my Taxes

[ScottW00]

My Daughter is 20. She is a full time student living at school. He tuition is pay from a trust in her name. She collected unemployment because her part time job was terminated because of Covid so she had $14000 in income in 2020. Should I claim her on my tax return? Her room and board is paid for from the trust.  I wanted to not claim her so she would qualify for covid payments. The rules are a little fuzzy on what 50% support would be.

[ColeenD3]

The support she provided for herself is $14,000. To meet the support test, the child cannot have provided more than half of his or her own support during the tax year. Did her $14,000 amount to more than half. Support covers everything; food, housing clothing, transportation, entertainment, etc.

Apart from that, if she qualifies to be your dependent, you can't decline to claim her in hopes that she will get a benefit that she is not entitled to. Even if you do not claim her, she has to say that someone could claim her on her own return.

She will have to file Form 8615 as well.

[ScottW00]

Thank you for the response.  I do not pay for her tuition. She lives on campus and has a meal plan. All paid for by a trust that her uncle left her. She lives at home when not at school. What is the IRS looking at to determine what support I offered her? Do I need to add up any food that I paid for? You are saying if its less than $14K, I cannot claim her?

[DawnC]

You do not have to provide half of her support.  The rule for qualifying children is that the child does not provide more than half of their own support.  If she does not pay for more than half of her expenses, you can claim her.   Being away at school is considered living at home.    Here is a worksheet that you can use, but considering she has tuition expenses and only 14K of income, you can probably claim her, but it really depends on all of the costs and whether or not she paid more than half of those.    

Support includes:
- Food
- Lodging (even if your mortgage is paid off)
- Clothing
- Education (including the GI bill)
- Medical and dental care (including insurance and supplementary Medicare premiums)
- Recreation
- Transportation and similar necessities

Support does not include:
- Life insurance premiums
- Funeral expenses
- Federal, state, or local income taxes or Social Security and Medicare taxes paid on a person's own income
- Scholarship grants
- Income made by a disabled person in a sheltered workshop

You can claim your child as a dependent on your 2020 taxes as long as they meet these requirements  She would be a qualifying child - notice the difference between a qualifying child and a qualifying relative for ''support'' in that link.   

[ScottW00]

Thank you. This is great information.

If my Daughters Tuition, Room and Board was $38000 and her trust paid the entire amount, does that count as support that she provided for?  Add that amount to any other expenses she paid for and then half that amount to see if I paid more than half? Also, since Covid forced her college to be remote, would I calculate that she was in my home from March 2020 to August of 2020 and not just when school ended in May of 2020.

[KrisD15]

When a child is away at school, that time is considered as living at home (if the intent is that the child is only away temporarily to attend school) so the fact that classes turned into online classes has no bearing to your situation. 

The amount the Trust paid would not count as her suppling her own support. Her portion of support paid by her would only include her earnings, loans she took out, and savings she spent.