Which divorced parent gets to claim a 20-year-old full-time college student??

[krisahoyle]

Hi there!  

I was the sole custodial parent for my daughter from ages birth to 18.  In my custody and divorce decree, I was granted the right to claim my daughter as a dependent on taxes.  Fast forward to now, where she is a full-time college student.  Her father is paying her tuition and her rent while she is at college, but when she is not at school (ie:  all school breaks including summer , and some weekends, are spent living with me).  In other words, I maintain and share with her the home that she comes home to from college.  A week ago her father texted me and alerted me that he was going to be claiming her on his taxes as his dependent.  I told him that I didn't think that was possible, given my interpretation the dependency tests, but he is quite clear that he has the legal right to claim her and I do not.  I presume this is either because he believes or has been told by somebody, that his financial support of her at college then gives him this right?  Basically, I don't want to file as head of household and with her as my dependent. If I'm not supposed to, given the above conditions. Can somebody please help me be sure?  Am I missing something?   My thanks.  Krisa 

[krisahoyle]

I am the original poster of this message. I forgot to mention that my daughter does not work and does not support herself. 

Krisa 

[RobertB4444]

According to the IRS in order to be a qualifying child they must pass these tests-

• Any age and permanently and totally disabled at any time during the year. For more information, see Disability and Earned Income Tax Credit.

or

• Under age 19 at the end of the year and younger than you (or your spouse, if you file a joint return)

or

• Under age 24 at the end of the year and a full-time student for at least 5 months of the year and younger than you (or your spouse, if you file a joint return)

To be a qualifying child for the EITC, your child must be your:

• Son, daughter, stepchild, adopted child or foster child
• Brother, sister, half-brother, half-sister, stepsister or stepbrother
• Grandchild, niece or nephew

To be a qualifying child for the EITC, your child must live in the same home as you in the United States for more than half of the tax year. The United States includes the 50 states, the District of Columbia and U.S. military bases. It does not include United States possessions such as Guam, the Virgin Islands or Puerto Rico.

Temporary time away from home

If your child was temporarily away from home, we count that as time lived with you. For example, your relative may temporarily leave the home because of:

• Illness or hospitalization
• School attendance, vacation, business or military service
• Detention in a juvenile facility
• Kidnapping

In addition the child must not provide more than half of their own support.

Here is a little more reading on the subject from TurboTax.

[Edited 01/30/25  09:31 AM PST]

@krisahoyle 

@krisahoyle 

[krisahoyle]

Hi Robert:

Thank you for your reply. 

Based on the IRS guidance around the 'residency test' of what a qualifying child is, she actually would be considered to be living with me full time.  Because a special interpretation/criteria is applied to full-time college students that is interpreted to be, that she would be living with me full time if she were not away at college, which is considered a temporary absence from her home.  And her home is with me.  And I maintained this home on behalf of her and I.  Her father pays her tuition and her rent while she is at college. He does not contribute money to the maintenance of her permanent home (which is with me)

The reason I posted this question here is, I think it will come down to exactly this. That she is considered to live with me full-time, but that he is contributing financially in a way that is significant.  However, she does not live with him when she not at school (so he does not meet the residency test).  

Also importantly, I never signed the form that releases him, the non-custodial parent, to be able to claim her.  I'm not sure this matters given that she is now 20 years old. With this in mind, I don't think that the court decree would apply, but if it comes down to a tiebreaker, maybe it does. 

If anyone can comment on the above and provide additional insight on who can/ should claim my daughter, it would be appreciated. 

Krisa 

[RobertB4444]

According to the IRS in order to be a qualifying child they must pass these tests-

• Any age and permanently and totally disabled at any time during the year. For more information, see Disability and Earned Income Tax Credit.

or

• Under age 19 at the end of the year and younger than you (or your spouse, if you file a joint return)

or

• Under age 24 at the end of the year and a full-time student for at least 5 months of the year and younger than you (or your spouse, if you file a joint return)

To be a qualifying child for the EITC, your child must be your:

• Son, daughter, stepchild, adopted child or foster child
• Brother, sister, half-brother, half-sister, stepsister or stepbrother
• Grandchild, niece or nephew

To be a qualifying child for the EITC, your child must live in the same home as you in the United States for more than half of the tax year. The United States includes the 50 states, the District of Columbia and U.S. military bases. It does not include United States possessions such as Guam, the Virgin Islands or Puerto Rico.

Temporary time away from home

If your child was temporarily away from home, we count that as time lived with you. For example, your relative may temporarily leave the home because of:

• Illness or hospitalization
• School attendance, vacation, business or military service
• Detention in a juvenile facility
• Kidnapping

In addition the child must not provide more than half of their own support.

[Edited 01/30/25  09:33 AM PST]

@krisahoyle 

@krisahoyle 

[krisahoyle]

Hi Robert:

Thank you again for your response. 

The decree did not specify an end to date to my ability/right to claim her.

I had a difficult time interpreting the support test of the dependent child qualification.  When you read the support test, it only says that the child could not have provided more than 50% of own support.  In other words, because they are not supporting themselves and cannot claim themselves on a tax return, then they are able to be claimed by somebody else. 

However, some of the things that I read online related to the support test did actually mention the parent who supports more than 50% of the child, which is a different interpretation of the support test. 

I am not sure which one is the right interpretation of that particular test.  

After reading the above and understanding that this (The accuracy of either me or my ex-husband claiming our daughter as a dependent) really comes down to this exact point, if anyone else can weigh in on the interpretation of the support test when determining qualifying child for dependent status, it would be most appreciated. 

Krisa 

[DaveF1006]

It depends. These are the qualifying child's tests.

1. Child must be your child, stepchild, foster child, sibling, half sibling, stepsibling, or a descendant of any of them An adopted child is always treated as your own child The term “adopted child” includes a child who was lawfully placed with you for legal adoption.
2. The child must be: (a) under age 19 at the end of the year and younger than you (or your spouse, if filing jointly), (b) under age 24 at the end of the year, a full-time student, and younger than you (or your spouse, if filing jointly), or (c) any age if permanently and totally disabled 
3. The child must have lived with you for more than half of the year 
4. The child must not have provided more than half of his or her own support for the year 
5. The child isn’t filing a joint return for the year (unless that joint return is filed only to claim a refund of income tax withheld or estimated tax paid) 
6. 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.
    

As Hal_AL mentions, you will able to claim your daughter as a dependent based on the fact that she lived with you most of the year. It doesn't matter who provided the most support.

[Edited 01/30/24|7:34 am PST]

@krisahoyle 

[Hal_Al · Accepted solution]

Your interpretation is correct. You are the parent that can claim her as a dependent for 2024. This is because she live with you for most of the year. The time away at school is only a temporary absence from your home.  The fact that the father paid tuition and may have even provided the most support is not relevant.  

This is because she is your Qualifying Child. 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.

The support test is different for each type. The support test, for a QC, is only that the child didn't provide more than half his own support. The support test for a Qualifying Relative is that the taxpayer provided more than half the relative's support. So, his financial support of her at college does NOT give him the right to claim her. It sounds like he's only heard of the Qualifying Relative rules.  He cannot claim her under the qualifying relative rules because she is the QC of another taxpayer (YOU).

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

Because she is your dependent, you get to claim the tuition tax credit, even though the other  parent paid the tuition. 

[krisahoyle]

Thank you Hal_al.  

This was my general interpretation with the caveat about the interpretation of the support test that I described above.  Mainly, I questioned my interpretation because my ex-husband seems very convinced about his position.  That made me wonder if I was missing something.  I'm feeling a bit better about my interpretation of the rules now.  I'm also clear that per the tiebreaker process also spelled out in the dependents and divorced parents caveat section, that the final decision on who gets to claim is who the child lived with the longest.  And that is most definitely me.

Thanks again

Krisa