College Student Dependent Filing

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

M

moyers0913Author

Level 2

Thank you very much for the helpful information.

M

moyers0913Author

Level 2

I have a 2nd question related to the information already posted. We're wondering why we could not claim our son's educational expenses for 2019 like we did for 2018, especially since our family income was not much different.

We just received my son's 1098-T from the University. For "Payments received for qualified tuition and related expenses" it shows $19,190.00 and for "Scholarships or grants" it shows $5445.00

In Turbo Tax, it asked for the Tuition/Grant amount, but not the expenses for 2019 like it did for 2018. At the end of the assessment TT stated "It turns out Nathan's Scholarship or Grant Counts as Income" and "There is no taxable income in your return."

Other Facts

1. Our return is Married Filing Jointly

2. 2019 was our son's 2nd year of full time University enrollment

Thank you again for any assistance,

Scott Moyer