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my full time college son made 18,250 dollars last year can i claim him as a dependent

my full time college son made 18,250 dollars last year can i claim him as a dependent
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3 Replies
MayaD
Employee Tax Expert

my full time college son made 18,250 dollars last year can i claim him as a dependent

 You can claim him as long as he didn't provide more than half of his own support and he meets the requirements listed below

Qualifying child:

  • They're related to you.
  • They aren't claimed as a dependent by someone else.
  • They're a US citizen, resident alien, national, or a Canadian or Mexican resident.
  • They aren’t filing a joint return with their spouse.
  • They're under the age of 19 (or 24 for full-time students).
  • There's no age limit for permanently and totally disabled children.
  • They lived with you for more than half the year (exceptions apply).
  • They didn't provide more than half of their own support for the year.
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my full time college son made 18,250 dollars last year can i claim him as a dependent

If he is a full-time student under the age of 24 he can still be claimed as qualifying child.   He can file his own return to seek a refund of federal and state tax withheld but must say on his own return that he can be claimed as someone else's dependent.

 

WHO CAN I CLAIM AS A DEPENDENT?

 

 

You can claim a child, relative, friend, or fiancé (etc.) as a dependent on your 2024 tax return as long as they meet the following requirements:

Qualifying child

  • They're related to you.
  • They aren't claimed as a dependent by someone else.
  • They're a U.S. citizen, resident alien, national, or a Canadian or Mexican resident.
  • They aren’t filing a joint return with their spouse.
  • They're under the age of 19 (or 24 for full-time students).
    • No age limit for permanently and totally disabled children.
  • They lived with you for more than half the year (exceptions apply).
  • They didn't provide more than half of their own support for the year.

Qualifying relative

  • They don't have to be related to you (despite the name).
  • They aren't claimed as a dependent by someone else.
  • They're a U.S. citizen, resident alien, national, or a Canadian or Mexican resident.
  • They aren’t filing a joint return with their spouse.
  • They lived with you the entire year (exceptions apply).
  • They made less than $5050 in 2024.   (Not counting Social Security)
  • You provided more than half of their financial support.

When you add someone as a dependent, we'll ask a series of questions to make sure you can claim them. There may be other tax benefits you can get when you claim a dependent.

Related Information:

 

**Disclaimer: Every effort has been made to offer the most correct information possible. The poster disclaims any legal responsibility for the accuracy of the information that is contained in this post.**
Hal_Al
Level 15

my full time college son made 18,250 dollars last year can i claim him as a dependent

Q. my full time college son made 18,250 dollars last year can i claim him as a dependent?

A. Yes (most likely).

 

There are two types of dependents, "Qualifying Children"(QC) and Other ("Qualifying Relative" in IRS parlance even though they don't have to actually be related). There is no income limit for a QC but there is an age limit, student status, a relationship test and residence test.

A child of a taxpayer can still be a “Qualifying Child” (QC) dependent, regardless of his/her income, if:

  1. He is under age 19, or under 24 if a full time student for at least 5 months of the year, or is totally & permanently disabled
  2. He did not provide more than 1/2 his own support. Scholarships are excluded from the support calculation
  3. He lived with the parent (including temporary absences such as away at school) for more than half the year

 

So, it doesn't matter how much he earned. What matters is how much he spent on support. Money he put into savings does not count as support he spent on himself.

The support value of the home, provided by the parent, is the fair market rental value of the home plus utilities & other expenses divided by the number of occupants.

The IRS has a worksheet that can be used to help with the support calculation. See: http://apps.irs.gov/app/vita/content/globalmedia/teacher/worksheet_for_determining_support_4012.pdf

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