My daughter has worked for the last 4 months 2016, does she file herself? she was in college till 12 May, came home and got a job and moved into her own apartment August

[tjoetjoe3]

So everything is just on the border. She graduated in May and start working as a teacher and moved out in August. So the question is can she be claimed and or has she has to file her own tax form and claim herself or go as a dependent on my joint tax form. what is the best choice?

[Carl]

Your daughter will file her own tax return, no matter what. The real question is, do you qualify to claim her as your dependent? If she was over the age of 23 on Dec 31 of the tax year, and she earned more than $4000 in 2016, then you do not qualify.

[Opus 17]

@Carl $4050 this year.

[Opus 17]

@tjoetjoe3 your daughter will always file a tax return for her own earned income.  If she is under 24, then she is considered a full time student for 2016 since she was a student for 5 months, and she lived with you.

So the key question is, considering the whole year overall, did she pay more than half her own support.  Clearly she paid more than half for the last 4 months.  So I don't think the IRS will question it if she does not check the "I can be claimed by someone else" box, and you no longer claim her as a dependent.

If you want to claim her as a dependent, you will need to add up her living expenses for 2016 (over all her different living arrangements) and figure out if she ended up paying more than half from her own funds.

[Carl]

@Opus 17 yep. My fumble fingers still think it's 2016. 🙂