Filing Status & Education Credits

[chakli]

Filing Status & Education Credits

We file our tax return as “Married filing Joint” with Two Dependent Kids (Son in College and Daughter in High School going to college this Fall 2022).

For 2022, We will have both Son and Daughter in college. My son is working part time this year and expected to make around 18000 or max 25000 if he decides to continue this fall. My Daughter also works part-time and expected to make around 4000 max this year. Both of them will not have any capital gains.

How do we plan to file 2022 tax return next year to minimize tax liability?

• Married Filing Joint with Two Dependents (get $5000 Education Credit) and File Separate return for Son for his income (saying he is claimed as dependent on parents return)

OR

• Married Filing Joint with Daughter only as Dependents ($2500 Education Credit) and Son Files separately on his own.

Are there any other options? Which one  would be better for us planning for 2022.

[SundayInSalem]

If you can claim your son as a dependent then you can either claim him or not claim him. Your son cannot claim himself as if qualifies as your dependent, even if you choose NOT to put him on your tax return.

In that case, he would check the box saying he can be claimed as a dependent.

If your son is a full-time student under age 24 then there is no income limit for him to be claimed as a dependent.

To be a ‘qualifying child’, you son would have to live with you for more than half the year (going to college still counts as ‘living with you’). Additionally, you would have to provide more than half his support.

$18,000—$25,000 is a lot of income. However, it’s still possible that you could provide more than half his support, allowing you to claim him as your dependent.

Rules for Claiming a Dependent on Your Tax Return