It depends on whether he provided more than half of his support with his income. The rules for claiming a full-time college student are as follows:
- He is under 19, or between
the ages of 19 and 24 and;
- He 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
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.
He did not
provide more than half of his 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.
He 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.
If he paid for more than half of his
support (like food, shelter, transportation, medical and dental, clothing, and
recreation) with the money he earned, you cannot claim him as your dependent.
Use worksheet 2 from page 16 of this PDF version of Publication 501.
