Dependent claim

[Di-23]

My 6 year old is a US citizen living and schooling abroad. I’m solely responsible for her upkeep and I have sole legal and physical custody.

I am divorced from her father and he is not involved in her life. Also, the court (at my request) waved child support.

Can she be claimed as my dependent given she’s not currently in the US?

[DoninGA]

Being away at school is considered a temporary absence from the home.  You should be able to claim her as your dependent under the Qualifying Child rules.

To be a Qualifying Child -

1. The child must be your son, daughter, stepchild, foster child, brother, sister, half brother, half sister, stepbrother, stepsister, or a descendant of any of them.
2. The child must be (a) under age 19 at the end of the year, (b) under age 24 at the end of the year and a full-time student or (c) any age and permanently and totally disabled.
3. The child must have lived with you for more than half of the year. Temporary absences while away at school are considered living with you.
4. The child must not have provided more than half of his or her own support for the year.
5. If the child meets the rules to be a qualifying child of more than one person, you must be the person entitled to claim the child as a qualifying child.
6. The child must be a U.S. citizen or U.S., Canada or Mexico resident for some portion of the year.
7. The child must be younger than you unless disabled.

[SoCalGal22 · Accepted solution]

Great Question @di_23!

Basically to claim a Child or Dependent Care Credit, the dependent has to be reportable on your tax return.   To claim the Child Tax Credit, your child must have a SSN that is valid for employment. All US Citizens SSN cards will show they are valid for employment.

https://www.irs.gov/credits-deductions/tax-year-2021-filing-season-2022-child-tax-credit-frequently-....

From <https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/forums/replypage/board-id/asktheexperts/message-id/15200>

When your child is away at school, they are still assumed to have a primary home with you that they will return to.  So the key question here is whether you kept a US home for over 6 months of the year?

https://www.irs.gov/credits-deductions/tax-year-2021-filing-season-2022-child-tax-credit-frequently-...

If they do not have this type of SSN, you may be able to claim them on the Credit for Other Dependents. The Credit for Other Dependents is a tax credit available to taxpayers for each of their dependents who was a U.S. citizen, U.S. national, or U.S. resident alien in 2021 but can't be claimed for the Child Tax Credit. The maximum credit amount is $500 for each dependent. But the credit can only reduce your tax and provides no benefit if you don't have any tax. Claim the credit with your Child Tax Credit, if any, on Schedule 8812, Credits for Qualifying Children and Other DependentsPDF.

If they do not have this, you may be able to claim them on the Credit for Other Dependents.

To claim a Child and Dependent Care Credit, your qualifying child must be under the age of 13 when the care was provided, or a spouse who is physically or mentally incapable of self-care who lived with you more than half the year or an individual who was physically or mentally incapable of caring for their own hygiene or nutritional needs or requires the full-time attention of someone.

https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc602

The Care provider needs to have a federal TIN (EIN) or SSN that you will report on your tax return.  So the IRS will expect them to report the income on their tax return as well.

Do these help in any way?  Please let me know if you are looking for more detail on any one of these.

[SoCalGal22]

 @Di-23

Please let me know if you are looking for more detail on any one of these.

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[Di-23]

Thanks for your detailed response. Yes, I live and work in the US, so yes,  I have a home here.

[Di-23]

Thank you for the response. This clarifies any doubt I had. 

[SuziM]

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