Dependent or not ?

[roseyday5]

My 22 yr old son took the fall semester off in 2019.  He was working and made $20,000.  Can I claim him as a dependent this year ?  Should I be claiming him as a dependent since he made $20,000?  (FYI, he has no student loans.... I also have an 18 yr old who started college fall of 2019 and will be claiming him as a dependent.) 

I'm just not sure what to do this year, please help !

Thanks

[Bsch4477]

You can claim him if during 2019 he was enrolled full time any part of 5 months and he did not provide more than half of his support. 

[CatinaT1]

It depends on if your child provided more than half of his your own support during the year or not. 

The rules for a parent to claim a college student are this:

• The student is under the age of 24 on Dec 31 of the tax year and:
• Is enrolled in an undergraduate program at an accredited institution and:
• Is a full time student for any part of 5 months during the year, and:
• the STUDENT did NOT provide more that 50% of the STUDENT’S support 

[edited 2.10.2020 | 6:14pm

[Bsch4477]

@CatinaT1  Correction:  To be a dependent  at age 19-23,  you have to be a student.   A student is defined as one who was enrolled FULL time any part of 5 months during the year. See Pub 17, pg. 26.  The link you referred to has it wrong. 

[CatinaT1]

Thank you.  A full-time student is a student who is enrolled for the number of hours or courses the school considers to be full-time attendance.

[roseyday5]

Follow up Question:  I thought there was a maximum a dependent student could make - no ?

He made $22,000 - I thought that was too much to be considered a dependent.     However, I did support him through means of  housing, utilities, food, etc ....  This is were I'm getting confused.

[BillM223]

There are two ways to be a dependent: to be a "qualifying child" or be a "qualifying dependent". The tests for each of these is different - please see Table 3-1 on page 25 in Pub 17. Yes, this is Pub 17 for 2018 because the IRS has not released the one for 2019 yet, but the tests are substantially the same.

To be a qualifying child, there is not income test; there is only "The child must not have provided more than half of his or her own support for the year." To determine if you provided more than half the child's support, please see Worksheet 3-1 Worksheet for Determining Support on page 28 at the link above.

There IS an income test to be a qualifying relative, and if your 22-year-old son was not a full-time student for at least 5 months in 2019, then this is the set of tests you will have to satisfy in order to claim him as a dependent. Obviously, though, he would fail the income test to be a qualifying relative because he made well more than $4,200 (the 2019 amount).