Can i claim my 25 year old as dependent if he is full time graduate student with no income?

[SaraTShelby]

He has no income and goes to school full time in another state. He has student loans. I have read that the age limit is 24 (which he turned in 2016) but Turbo Tax is saying he qualifies as a dependent. I'm confused, why would Turbo Tax allow the dependent status if he is too old and his birth date is listed in forms?

[Zbucklyo · Accepted solution]

He can be your dependent if:

(1) He earned less than $4,050 in 2017.

(2) You provided more than half his support in 2017.

He is considered a qualifying relative in this case, as opposed to a qualifying child, which has different rules, one of which is the age rule to which you are referring.

See the following worksheet to determine if you provided more than half his support.  In particular, his reliance on loans may disqualify you.

https://apps.irs.gov/app/vita/content/globalmedia/teacher/worksheet_for_determining_support_4012.pdf

[SaraTShelby]

Thank you. What if he uses his student loans to pay for a good deal of his living expenses? We also made some payments to his loans this year but know we can't deduct the interest we paid.

[SaraTShelby]

To clarify: On the worksheet it asks to list funds belonging to the person I supported including amounts borrowed during the year.  Is it safe to assume that this includes the student loans?

[Zbucklyo]

If he uses his student loans to provide more than half his support, he is not your dependent. The student loans do count as loans for the purposes of the worksheet.