I am trying to understand if it is beneficial for me to claim my son or should he claim himself if he had unemployment income. He is a full time student and had unemployment income. If I claim him, I only get the $500 credit and no tuition deduction.
It is not a choice. If your son CAN be claimed as a dependent he is required to say on his own return that he can be claimed.
Thank you for the response as it was helpful. I have another question now. My son received a Form 1098-T (Tuition Statement) and since we (parents) are not eligible for the credit, can he take it if we do not claim him as a dependent when filing? Or, can parents only take the deduction as he is a qualifying dependent whether or not we claim him? Thank you.
A dependent cannot get education credits---only the person who can claim the student as a dependent can use the education credit.
https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1901526-what-s-the-income-limit-for-education-tax-credits
https://www.irs.gov/help/ita/am-i-eligible-to-claim-an-education-credit
However, depending on her income and other circumstances, is some cases it can be beneficial to not claim the dependent.
She cannot claim herself if you *can* claim yer even if you do not claim her - the tax law does not permit that.
In fact there are special questions just for that in the personal information section: 1) CAN you be claimed as a dependent by another taxpayer?; and 2) Were (or will you be) claimed by that taxpayer?
If #1 is yes then the student cannot claim them self.
If #1 is yes and #2 is no, then the student still cannot claim them self but there are certain educational credits normally claimed by the parent that the student can claim. That is the only difference.