If she qualifies as your dependent, you should continue to claim her as a dependent regardless of whether the bankruptcy trustee will take a large portion of your refund.
You can claim her as a dependent if she did not pay for more
than half of her support.
See the dependent rules below:
·
She
is between the ages of 19 and 24,
·
She
was a full time student for 2016
1.
To be a student, they must be, during some part of each of
any 5 calendar months of the year:
a.
A full-time student at a school that has a regular teaching
staff, course of study, and a regularly enrolled student body at the school, or
b.
A student taking a full-time, on-farm training course given
by a school described in (1), or by a state, county, or local government agency.
2.
The 5 calendar months don't have to be consecutive.
·
She
did not provide more than half of her own support.
o The test is different from the
support test to be a qualifying relative, which is described later. However, to see what is or isn't support, see Support Test (To Be a Qualifying Relative) , later. If you aren't sure whether a child provided more than half of their own support, you may find Worksheet 2 helpful.
·
She
did not file a joint tax return.
o An exception to the joint
return test applies if your child and her spouse file a joint return only to
claim a refund of income tax withheld or estimated tax paid.
If she
paid for more than half of her support (like food, shelter, transportation,
medical and dental, clothing, and recreation) with the money she earned, you
cannot claim her as your dependent. Use worksheet 2 from page 16 of this PDF version of Publication 501.
