dependent question.

[OhMari]

Our dd is 21, full time student. She made over $9000 working lat year part time during school and full time on school breaks. she lived at home during the 2 semesters. me and my dh pretty much pay her tuition and groceries. she pays for rent, utilities, phone and whatever else. Turbo tax is telling me I can't claim her because she made too much money and lives at school. I can lie and say she lives more months at home. I can't lie and say she had no income. Is any one else running into this problem?

I wish FAFSA then would accept her as a non dependent. She has to go a extra year to school and she has to still use or claim our income for Financial aid. My oldest son worked 4 years out of h.s. And then went to college. He got a ton of grants, because he was older and didn't have to claim our income. He graduated at 25 and got done in 3 years. He carried almost 21 credits a semester.

 

[Darcy03231]

Try doing your taxes without claiming your daughter and then do them with and see what the difference is.

We ran into this one year and that's what I did. I was surprised to find that it made absolutely no difference whether we claimed her or not. From that point forward we just had her claim herself on her return. You can still provide your information for FAFSA whether you claim her or not.

Since my daughter claims herself she gets a large refund.

If it makes a difference you can have her pay you the difference in the tax out of her refund.

 

[OhMari]

I did compare and we have to pay in $1200 if we don't claim her, she gets all her paid federal money back. She gets to claim her tuition, we loose that also, if we claim her, she gets about half back, which is about $260. I really don't want to get in trouble with the IRS and I have a feeling they would flag this.

 

[herdtoDisney]

Our dd is 21, full time student. She made over $9000 working lat year part time during school and full time on school breaks. she lived at home during the 2 semesters. me and my dh pretty much pay her tuition and groceries. she pays for rent, utilities, phone and whatever else. Turbo tax is telling me I can't claim her because she made too much money and lives at school. I can lie and say she lives more months at home. I can't lie and say she had no income. Is any one else running into this problem?

I wish FAFSA then would accept her as a non dependent. She has to go a extra year to school and she has to still use or claim our income for Financial aid. My oldest son worked 4 years out of h.s. And then went to college. He got a ton of grants, because he was older and didn't have to claim our income. He graduated at 25 and got done in 3 years. He carried almost 21 credits a semester.

I just did our taxes in TurboTax and my 19 yo ds, who is a student, made about what your dd did. I think you misunderstood-TurboTax says that a full time student is considered to have lived at home (not counting the time away at school) and you can claim them even if they make enough to have to file their own return (which, with your dd's income, is what she has to do).

I claimed my ds. He will file his own taxes, and on his form when it asks 'can anyone else claim you as a dependent' he will have to check yes.

I think you need to go back and try again-you should be able to claim her just fine.

 

[MrsPete]

Our dd is 21, full time student. She made over $9000 working lat year part time during school and full time on school breaks. she lived at home during the 2 semesters. me and my dh pretty much pay her tuition and groceries. she pays for rent, utilities, phone and whatever else. Turbo tax is telling me I can't claim her because she made too much money and lives at school. I can lie and say she lives more months at home. I can't lie and say she had no income. Is any one else running into this problem?

I wish FAFSA then would accept her as a non dependent. She has to go a extra year to school and she has to still use or claim our income for Financial aid. My oldest son worked 4 years out of h.s. And then went to college. He got a ton of grants, because he was older and didn't have to claim our income. He graduated at 25 and got done in 3 years. He carried almost 21 credits a semester.

When I was in college -- admittedly in the 80s; things could've changed -- a student who lived in a dorm and was under 24 (24?) was considered to be "living at home". They said back then that a traditional student (meaning straight out of high school) couldn't use a college address as a permanant residence. They said that you really "lived" at home, but you were staying in a dorm temporarily while taking classes.

I went round and round about this with the financial aid office. I didn't live at home. My parents expected us all to move out the day after high school graduation (they did allow one brother to stay a few more months because he was going into the military, and it wasn't practical to get a place for the few weeks before basic training began -- but they were very stern about charging him rent). The financial aid office told me flat-out that I couldn't possibly support myself on the money I was earning. But truthfully, I was. I just wasn't living well.

 

[srobinet]

I use Turbo Tax as well. I claimed my son last year even though he was in school. He filed his own return as well but was unable to claim himself since I claimed him. Your daughter would have to answer yes to the question can someone else can claim her on their return. She would be able to claim the standard deduction for a single person on her return but not the personal exemption. I hope this helps.

 

[LisaNJ25]

I just did our taxes in TurboTax and my 19 yo ds, who is a student, made about what your dd did. I think you misunderstood-TurboTax says that a full time student is considered to have lived at home (not counting the time away at school) and you can claim them even if they make enough to have to file their own return (which, with your dd's income, is what she has to do).

I claimed my ds. He will file his own taxes, and on his form when it asks 'can anyone else claim you as a dependent' he will have to check yes.

I think you need to go back and try again-you should be able to claim her just fine.

I had though the max they could make was 3700.. that's what popped up when I was doing mine.

 

[mkandjpsmom]

When your child lives at school its considered a temporary absence from home and that she really lives at home. As long as she is a full time student for at least 5 months and under the age of 24 her income doesn't matter. I think when you are doing the taxes its not letting you claim her because your saying she doesn't live with you, but according to the IRS its a temporary absence. There is a great education credit for up to $2500 if you qualify. On $9000 of income she is not getting the full benefit of the credit like you may be able to. I think on turbo tax they will reference the IRS pub that goes along with it. I know the education one is PUB 970 and you should find info about dependency in PUB 17. Good luck!

 

[herdtoDisney]

I had though the max they could make was 3700.. that's what popped up when I was doing mine.

There is a certain threshold that they can make and not have to file a separate return-maybe it was that number, or sometihng like that if I recall correctly. If a dependent makes less than the number, they don't have to file their own return and can be on yours. My ds will file his own because he is over the number.

 

[Green Tea]

She definitely can be your dependent if she is enrolled in college, whether she lives at home or not. On Turbo Tax it notes on the How many months did your child live with you that months at college count as home months for tax purposes. She will need to file a return noting she is a dependent on her parent's return. She might get a few dollars of a return if taxes were withheld.

 

[tar heel]

I think you're answering one of Turbo Tax's questions wrong and can easily claim her.

For full-time students, living at school is considered living at home. It sounds like she lives with you 12 months a year.

For full-time students, there is no income limit. The $3,700 has to do with claiming a nontraditional dependent, such as Grandma or your girlfriend.

The basic requirements for claiming a full-time student:
1-provided more than half of his/her upkeep.
2-He/she lived at home (or at school at least half the year)
3-Full-time student for at least five months (a semester -- it does not have to be a full month)

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

For full-time students, there is no income limit. The $3,700 has to do with claiming a nontraditional dependent, such as Grandma or your girlfriend.

A girlfriend or boyfriend or any non-relative cannot be claimed as a dependent. They must be a qualifying child or a relative.

http://www.irs.gov/publications/p17/ch03.html#en_US_2011_publink1000170880

 

[tar heel]

I'll admit to knowing nothing about claiming a nonrelative as a dependent, but on our previous thread about claiming older children, someone posted this from Turbo Tax, which claims the IRS has recently started allowing some boyfriend/girlfriends to be claimed:

http://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tools/tax-tips/Family/12-Tricky-Tax-Dependent-Dilemmas/INF12074.html

 

[melissapealo]

A girlfriend or boyfriend or any non-relative cannot be claimed as a dependent. They must be a qualifying child or a relative.

http://www.irs.gov/publications/p17/ch03.html#en_US_2011_publink1000170880

This really has nothing to do with the op's question, but yes they can be claimed. Anyone can be claimed as a dependent as long as they live with you for the whole year, make less than 3700. and you pay over half their support.

 

[Cheshire Figment]

Your daughter is considered to be "temporarily away from home" while physically at college, and your home his her principal residence. Under definition of a dependent, there is no income limit as far as a child under age 23 who is a full time student during at least five months of the year, to claim that child as a dependent. The only rule is that you have to provide at least half of her support.

I would suggest going to http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p527.pdf and especially look at starting on Page 18 which describes support.

Mike (CPA Retired)