College Student Dependent Filing

Forum|Forum|6 years ago
December 30, 2019
1 reply
1 view

Greetings,

I'd like to share my family financial situation for 2019 before asking two filing questions concerning my son's status:

** My son was born on Aug 3, 2000 and is currently a college student at Penn State

** He lived on the college campus for the 1st 5 months of 2019 and then spent the remaining 7 months living at home with my wife and I while he continued to take online courses at Penn State

** Nathan did not earn any job-related income but did receive FAFSA Financial Aid in 2019

My questions:

1.) As his parent, can I claim my son as a dependent on my federal tax return for tax year 2019 ?

2.) Does my son need to file his own federal tax return for tax year 2019?

Thank you very much,

Scott Moyer

Best answer by DoninGA

Expert Reviewed

Since he was a full time student under the age of 24 and lived in your home for over one-half the year you should be able to claim him as a dependent under the Qualifying Child rules. As your dependent you can also claim any education expenses and education credits on your tax return. The dependent cannot claim those credits on their tax return. If he did not have any type of income in 2019 there is no need for him to file a tax return (financial aid is not reportable income)

To be a Qualifying Child -

1. The child must be your son, daughter, stepchild, foster child, brother, sister, half brother, half sister, stepbrother, stepsister, or a descendant of any of them.
2. The child must be (a) under age 19 at the end of the year, (b) under age 24 at the end of the year and a full-time student or (c) any age and permanently and totally disabled.
3. The child must have lived with you for more than half of the year. Temporary absences while away at college are considered living with you.
4. The child must not have provided more than half of his or her own support for the year.
5. If the child meets the rules to be a qualifying child of more than one person, you must be the person entitled to claim the child as a qualifying child.
6. The child must be a U.S. citizen or U.S., Canada or Mexico resident for some portion of the year.
7. The child must be younger than you unless disabled.

DoninGA

Answer

Level 15

Expert Reviewed

Since he was a full time student under the age of 24 and lived in your home for over one-half the year you should be able to claim him as a dependent under the Qualifying Child rules. As your dependent you can also claim any education expenses and education credits on your tax return. The dependent cannot claim those credits on their tax return. If he did not have any type of income in 2019 there is no need for him to file a tax return (financial aid is not reportable income)

To be a Qualifying Child -

1. The child must be your son, daughter, stepchild, foster child, brother, sister, half brother, half sister, stepbrother, stepsister, or a descendant of any of them.
2. The child must be (a) under age 19 at the end of the year, (b) under age 24 at the end of the year and a full-time student or (c) any age and permanently and totally disabled.
3. The child must have lived with you for more than half of the year. Temporary absences while away at college are considered living with you.
4. The child must not have provided more than half of his or her own support for the year.
5. If the child meets the rules to be a qualifying child of more than one person, you must be the person entitled to claim the child as a qualifying child.
6. The child must be a U.S. citizen or U.S., Canada or Mexico resident for some portion of the year.
7. The child must be younger than you unless disabled.

S

svarma12

Level 2

If my college student son did have income in the year of filing, and I paid for college using 529b, how should we file?

He did live half the year with us and half at school.

I assumed that I should claim him as dependent, and he should also file due to his income (and to be able to capture covid relief that he is eligible for)

Thank you

E

ErnieS0

Level 15

You can claim your son as your dependent if he was under 24 and a full-time student and if you provided for more than half his support.

Depending on how much income he had and what type, he may have to file an income tax return. If he is not required to file, he may want to file to claim a refund. He will not claim himself on his tax return.

Dependents are not eligible for stimulus payments. Any missing first and second stimulus payments will be added to your return as Recovery Rebate Credit. You will also get the third stimulus.

See Qualifying Child Rules.

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