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If your son is a full-time student in 2019, then you can claim him as a dependent if his earnings from employment are not more than half his total support needs. Full-time student means he attended school full-time, as defined by the school, for at least one day in at least five different months of the year. So a graduating high school senior would be considered a full-time student for the entire year even though they graduated in May or June. Support means the total amount of money spent on his care and upkeep, including housing, medical expenses, entertainment, tuition, and food. If he provides more than half his own support over the entire year, then he can’t be a dependent even if he meets the full time school and residency requirements.
If he is not a full-time student in 2019, then you probably can’t claim him as a dependent because his earnings from the Navy will be more than $4200.
If your son is a full-time student in 2019, then you can claim him as a dependent if his earnings from employment are not more than half his total support needs. Full-time student means he attended school full-time, as defined by the school, for at least one day in at least five different months of the year. So a graduating high school senior would be considered a full-time student for the entire year even though they graduated in May or June. Support means the total amount of money spent on his care and upkeep, including housing, medical expenses, entertainment, tuition, and food. If he provides more than half his own support over the entire year, then he can’t be a dependent even if he meets the full time school and residency requirements.
If he is not a full-time student in 2019, then you probably can’t claim him as a dependent because his earnings from the Navy will be more than $4200.
Here's the full and complete scoop on claiming your 19 year ol as a dependent for your situation. This is assuming he graduated/graduates H.S. on or after May 1, 2019.
First, who claims the student as a dependent?
If the student:
- Is under the age of 24 on Dec 31 of the tax year and:
- Is enrolled in an undergraduate program at an accredited
institution and:
- Is enrolled as a full time student for one academic
semester that begins during the tax year, (each institution has their own
definition of a full time student) and:
- the STUDENT
did NOT provide more that 50% of the
STUDENT’S own support
(schollarships/grants received by the student ***do not count*** as the student providing their own
support)
Then:
The parents qualify to claim the student as a dependent on the parent's tax return . Period, End of Story. But one thing I want to point out here. The parents *QUALIFY* to claim the student. The parents are *NOT* required to claim the student as a dependent. But even if they don’t, since they *qualify* to claim the student, then if the student will be filing their own tax return the student is *REQUIRED* to select the option for “I can be claimed on someone else’s return”. To reiterate:
If the student qualifies to be claimed on the parent’s tax return, then the student *absolutely* *must* with *no* exceptions, select the option for "I can be claimed on someone else's tax return", no …matter…what.
Now, there is one thing that "might" disqualify him as your dependent. The program will ask you how many months he lived with you during the tax year. In small print it tells you to "count time away at school as having lived with you". Now you have 4 months your son did not live with you, and it was not for "time spent away from home to attend school". So the number of months he lived with you would be less than 12 months (I'm guessing 8 months). But being that he did live with you for "more" than half the year, I would "expect" you will qualify to claim him. But I won't swear to it because of the recent tax law changes that kicked in starting with the 2018 tax year.
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