How are lodging expenses figured for dependents during extended temporary absences for school? Ex: person “lives” in dad’s house but has an apartment at school.

[rom8v1]

24 yr old son lives in an apartment 11 months out of the year and attends school.  I pay for the apartment, all living expenses, school related expenses etc.  His driver’s license still has his Dad’s address on it.  Should his Dad still be able to count their home as a lodging expense too? Or only for the 3-4 weeks that he may be home throughout the year?

[Bsch4477]

I must be missing something because there’s no deduction  for lodging expenses for a student. Or are you concerned about who supports him to claim the dependency?

[rom8v1]

@Bsch4477  Sorry about that.  Yes, the concern is about dependency issues.  My son lives in an apartment that we pay for and we provide all living expenses through the year.  His DL has his Dad’s address but he only returns a couple of weeks out of the year for a visit.

[Bsch4477]

You write “we” pay for the apartment. If both you and dad pay for it and the child doesn’t live in either home, the criterion of which parent does the child spend the more nights with gets murky. If he spends some nights  with dad and none with you, dad could argue he wins on that criterion. If it can’t be estimated with whom he spends the more nights, the parent with the higher AGI gets to claim the dependency. 

[Vanessa A]

When it is a temporary absence for education, he is considered to be living at whatever address is his permanent address.  However, since he is 24, if he earned more than $4,300 you would not be able to claim him as a dependent since he is no longer under 24. 

[Bsch4477]

@Vanessa A  makes a good point which I missed-age over 23. So assuming he made less than $4300 the dependency goes to the one who provided more than half of his support. 

Thanks, @Vanessa A

[rom8v1]

@Bsch4477 @Vanessa A 
Thank you so much for the quick responses and clarifications.