Can my son claim himself if he qualifies as a dependent on my return?

[tifa]

I worked in 2019,  lived with my parents and made less than $4000. Can I claim myself  or must my parents claim me.  They already filed and did not claim me.

[CatinaT1]

You can, but it would be better for them to claim you as you probably have no tax liability either way.

[mtay]

My child is 22 and a full time student, who pays for most of her expenses except housing and health insurance...(we still cover her while a student).  She works and made 11,000 in 2019.  What is the benefit for us to claim her as a dependent?  In the past we have not received credit or cash back for dependents.  

Can I voluntarily remove her and let her file as a Single filer so she can get all the benefits of filing taxes...especially the Covid-19 relief paycheck given to all tax payers?  

[SusanY1]

She is your tax dependent if she is a full-time student and you pay for "more than half" of her living expenses to include tuition, housing, medical insurance and other expenses, and all other ordinary living expenses. 

As your dependent you are entitled to a credit for other dependents and also to deduct her tuition and fees expense or to take any education credits, if your income makes you eligible for these credits.  The ability to take these credits is very limited for the student (and the refundable portion of the credit is not available to students whose parents are still living.) 

If your daughter meets the qualifications as your dependent, you are not required to claim her but she is not eligible for an economic impact payment if she is a dependent or eligible to be one, whether or not you exercise the right to claim her.  

If she will graduate in 2020, she will be eligible for the payment, however, when she files her 2020 tax return and will receive it as a refundable credit on that tax return.  

[lucky23]

My son is 24 and graduated college in 2020 (had no income for 2020).  Do I HAVE to claim him as a dependent or can he claim himself to get the $1800 in back stimulus checks?  I get no benefit anymore for his American Learning college credits, as he used all 4 years of that in 2018.

[DMarkM1]

You do not have to claim him as a dependent on your tax return.  Yes, he can file a tax return for 2020 and claim the Recovery Rebate Credit.

Here is a link with more information on the Recovery Rebate Credit.

[lucky23]

Even if he had zero income in 2020?  I just wanted to make sure it was my choice whether or not I decided to claim him on my return-that there was nothing that said I have to claim him if he wants to claim himself.

[JotikaT2]

That is correct.  

The only way to claim the credit is for him to file his own tax return.

The credit will not calculate if he is not eligible.  

When you complete your tax return, TurboTax will prompt you to enter the amount of the stimulus payment you received at the end of the Other Tax Situations interview section of the program.  Be sure to indicate that he did not receive any stimulus payments.  TurboTax will then calculate the applicable credit and his tax liability or refund will be adjusted to include the credit amount.

As far as claiming him as a dependent, if he was no longer a full time student and was 24, then he would not meet the criteria to be claimed as a dependent.

Dependent qualifications

[cocorocs]

Hello, my son is 24 and was a FT student from Jan 20-May 20; graduated and worked from Oct 20- Dec20, earning less than $7,000.  He filed his own tax return and DID NOT check the box "someone can claim you as a dependent".  He has received his return and the stimulus credit for the first $1800 with his return.  We went to file our own taxes, claimed him originally and the IRS rejected.  We then went back and changed the return to not claiming him.  Our return is still being rejected, is there any other part in the program where might be flagging the IND-517-01 rejection code?

[AmyC]

Rejection when claiming makes sense. You said the magic words. He claimed his stimulus. Dependents are not allowed stimulus and would not receive it. The fact that he got stimulus says he did in fact file and claim himself.

You removed him, education, everything, and still rejecting?  See E-file reject IND-517-01: A Dependent SSN in the return must not be the same as the Primary or Spous...

@cocorocs

[cocorocs]

@AmyC - Thank you for the response.  I thought we removed all details from Dependent 1 when we resubmitted; would there be another area in a tax return that would also have Dependent 1 listed that we may have missed?  Also, would there be any reason we wouldn't be able to E-File ( I am assuming something in the return is eluding to the dependent that is stopping it from going through ) The fact that he filed, means he was entitled to the stimulus credit.  Would it matter that he filed first for some reason?  I would really like to avoid mailing in the return - I feel too many things could go wrong.  We had a nightmare about 10 years back. 

Would there be a person we could call who could look at the return to see if Dependent 1 is completely off the return?  Maybe we are answering the questions wrong.

Thanks

[KathrynG3]

Yes, since he filed first and the return was not filed as a dependent, his social security number cannot be in your return at all.

Since he is removed from the list of dependents in My Info presumably, check whether he is still listed for any Form 1099-Q or Form 1098-T input. Some states allow for additional deductions for education, as well. So, you may need to check the state. 

[Rocky068]

my cousin's son finished high school 6/8/2020, earned $1900 for the year and lived with his dad until 9/18/2020 per all the text messages we've acquired between cousin's, uncles, grandmother, et al. the kid's mother had him file his taxes and claim he could not be claimed on another return. ergo, his dad's return is being rejected. if he (dad) manually files his taxes claiming son and his son doesn't do an amended, will his son be penalized? he turned 18 in November. his mother has this kid convinced his dad is stealing his money. what a mess family can be sometimes.

[xmasbaby0]

The dad will have to print, sign and mail his own return.  Since the teenager filed a return that said he cannot be claimed, his Social Security number is now in the system and Dad cannot e-file....Dad can still file a return that claims his son but it has to be mailed.   The IRS will sort it out---it may take awhile but eventually they will both get letters from the IRS.  Sounds like the mom encouraged the teenager to file incorrectly.    And maybe "mom" is just not very knowledgeable about taxes.   

An 18 year old who was in high school in 2020 can be claimed as a dependent.   The rule is that if a person CAN be claimed as a dependent they are required to say that on their own tax return.   A teenager who had money withheld from his paycheck can file a tax return to seek a refund of tax withheld, but is not eligible to get stimulus checks----since that is what this is probably all about.    Dependents are not eligible to receive stimulus checks.

What should happen --- is the boy should amend his return.    We do not know yet how aggressive the IRS will be about recovering stimulus money received incorrectly by filing incorrectly.   

The boy's dad could not have received child tax credit or the first or second stimulus checks for the boy, since a parent can only get that for a child younger than 17 at the end of 2020.   So Dad is not "stealing" anything from the boy.   Dad could get the $1400 3rd stimulus check by claiming his son, since the age limit for that one was changed.   

Here are the rules for claiming a dependent:

WHO CAN I CLAIM AS A DEPENDENT?

You can claim a child, relative, friend, fiance (etc.) as a dependent on your 2020 taxes as long as they meet the following requirements:

Qualifying child

•They are related to you.

•They cannot be claimed as a dependent by someone else.

•They are a U.S. citizen, resident alien, national, or a Canadian or   Mexican resident.

•They are not filing a joint return with their spouse.

•They are under the age of 19 (or 24 for full-time students).

• No age limit for permanently and totally disabled children

  •      They live with you for more than half the year (exceptions apply).

Qualifying relative

•They don't have to be related to you (despite the name).

•They cannot be claimed as a dependent by someone else.

•They are a U.S. citizen, resident alien, national, or a Canadian or Mexican resident.

•They are not filing a joint return with their spouse.

•They lived with you the entire year.

•They made less than $4300  (not counting Social Security)

•You provided more than half of their financial support. More info

When you add someone as a dependent, we'll ask a series of questions to make sure you can claim them.

Related Information:

•Does a dependent have to live with me?

•What does "financially support another person" mean?

•Can I claim a newborn baby?

And some information that should be of interest to the son:

https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/dependents/help/when-do-i-have-to-answer-yes-to-being-claimed-as-a...

[bvmvmhhmv]

Is below a true statement?

I always thought one had the choice to claim a dependent or not as well as the dependent had a choice to be claimed or not.  Basically the child chooses to claim them self and the adult chooses not to claim them on their taxes.  Below infers otherwise.

"If you qualify to be claimed as a dependent, you must answer “yes” that you can be claimed as a dependent on someone else’s return. You’ll also be asked if the person who could claim you, will claim you, which only impacts your eligibility for certain education credits.

Answering “no” to the question, when you could be claimed, is potentially tax fraud. It could prevent TurboTax from calculating the Kiddie Tax for a dependent who has unemployment compensation or other unearned income. And specifically, for tax year 2021, it would qualify a taxpayer for a fraudulent recovery rebate. If you’re audited, you’d have to repay any improper refund, with interest, and potentially pay a penalty."