If My 19 year old daughter went to a college out of state for 6 months in 2016 and While there had a son. Can I claim her AND my grandchild as dependents?

[Phillip1 · Accepted solution]

You most likely can claim your daughter. However, you may need to have provided more than half of your grandchilds financial support before they will qualify as your dependent.

You can claim your daughter if the following applies:

• She is between the ages of 19 and 24,

• She was a full time student for 2016

• To be a student, they must be, during some part of each of any 5 calendar months of the year:

• A full-time student (per the university or college’s definition of full-time) at a school that has a regular teaching staff, course of study, and a regularly enrolled student body at the school, or

• A student taking a full-time, on-farm training course given by a school described in (1), or by a state, county, or local government agency.

• The 5 calendar months don't have to be consecutive.

• She did not provide more than half of her own support.

• This test is different from the support test to be a qualifying relative, which is described later. However, to see what is or isn't support, see Support Test (To Be a Qualifying Relative) , later. If you aren't sure whether a child provided more than half of his or her own support, you may find Worksheet 2 helpful.

• She did not file a joint tax return.

• An exception to the joint return test applies if your child and his or her spouse file a joint return only to claim a refund of income tax withheld or estimated tax paid.

You can claim your grandson as a qualifying child if the following applies:

• Relationship - Dependent should be

• Your son, daughter, stepchild, foster child, or a descendant (for example, your grandchild) of any of them, or

• Your brother, sister, half brother, half sister, stepbrother, stepsister, or a descendant (for example, your niece or nephew) of any of them.

• Age - Is the child under 19, or between 19-24 and a full time college student?

• Residency - Did the child live with you for more than half the year (or the majority of the year after birth)?

• The child cannot be claimed as a dependent if they provided more than half of their support.

• For older children, the cannot be claimed as a dependent if they file a joint return.

Claiming the grandchild may be a bit more of an issue. College students have an exception to the residency rule (requirement for a dependent to live with you for more than half of the year). See below:

Temporary absences. Your child is considered to have lived with you during periods of time when one of you, or both, are temporarily absent due to special circumstances such as:

• Illness,

• Education,

• Business,

• Vacation,

• Military service, or

• Detention in a juvenile facility.

This rule doesn’t apply to your grandson. If they stayed out of state after the birth (or lived away from you for the majority of the year after the birth) he would not be a qualifying child dependent.

The only other way to claim the grandchild would be as a qualifying relative dependent. For your grandchild to qualify as a qualifying relative dependent, you would need to have provided more than half of his support.  Fill out worksheet 2 on page 16 of IRS Publication 501 to make sure you meet this requirement.