Income Tax question/claiming college student

[can'tgetenufofwdw]

If my son was a high school student for half of 2010 and a college student in the fall, worked part time (made $11,000) and lived at home.......can we claim him and if so can he then do his own return getting most of his money back because he is a student?

 

[Vijoge]

If my son was a high school student for half of 2010 and a college student in the fall, worked part time (made $11,000) and lived at home.......can we claim him and if so can he then do his own return getting most of his money back because he is a student?

Yes, you can claim him. . .
In general, to be a taxpayer’s qualifying child, a person must satisfy four tests:

Relationship — the taxpayer’s child or stepchild (whether by blood or adoption), foster child, sibling or stepsibling, or a descendant of one of these.
Residence — has the same principal residence as the taxpayer for more than half the tax year. Exceptions apply, in certain cases, for children of divorced or separated parents, kidnapped children, temporary absences, and for children who were born or died during the year.
Age — must be under the age of 19 at the end of the tax year, or under the age of 24 if a full-time student for at least five months of the year, or be permanently and totally disabled at any time during the year.
Support — did not provide more than one-half of his/her own support for the year.

And he not only can, but must, file his own return. I'm not sure being a student has anything to do with the size of his refund, though I could be wrong.

 

[Simba&Nala]

Yes, you can claim him. . .
In general, to be a taxpayer’s qualifying child, a person must satisfy four tests:

Relationship — the taxpayer’s child or stepchild (whether by blood or adoption), foster child, sibling or stepsibling, or a descendant of one of these.
Residence — has the same principal residence as the taxpayer for more than half the tax year. Exceptions apply, in certain cases, for children of divorced or separated parents, kidnapped children, temporary absences, and for children who were born or died during the year.
Age — must be under the age of 19 at the end of the tax year, or under the age of 24 if a full-time student for at least five months of the year, or be permanently and totally disabled at any time during the year.
Support — did not provide more than one-half of his/her own support for the year.

And he not only can, but must, file his own return. I'm not sure being a student has anything to do with the size of his refund, though I could be wrong.

The information above is correct. The downside is that when your son files his tax return he must mark the box that he is being claimed as a dependent on someone else's return. This will reduce the amount of the personal exemption that he gets for himself. If I remember correctly from doing the same thing last year with our daughter, since she was claimed as a dependent on our tax return the tuition that was paid had to be claimed on our return and not hers.

 

[windycitymom]

If my son was a high school student for half of 2010 and a college student in the fall, worked part time (made $11,000) and lived at home.......can we claim him and if so can he then do his own return getting most of his money back because he is a student?

May I ask what kind of part-time job he did to earn $11,000? That's pretty good money for a student.

 

[Sadie22]

The information above is correct. The downside is that when your son files his tax return he must mark the box that he is being claimed as a dependent on someone else's return. This will reduce the amount of the personal exemption that he gets for himself. If I remember correctly from doing the same thing last year with our daughter, since she was claimed as a dependent on our tax return the tuition that was paid had to be claimed on our return and not hers.

That's assuming the parents paid the tuition.

 

[allyphoe]

That's assuming the parents paid the tuition.

No, the tuition deduction / credit goes with the dependency exemption, unless no one claimed the kid's exemption, in which case the kid gets the credit (but isn't eligible for the deduction). Who paid isn't relevant at all, as long as someone paid (either directly or by loans - not by nontaxable scholarships or grants).

 

[pintamino]

No, the tuition deduction / credit goes with the dependency exemption, unless no one claimed the kid's exemption, in which case the kid gets the credit (but isn't eligible for the deduction). Who paid isn't relevant at all, as long as someone paid (either directly or by loans - not by nontaxable scholarships or grants).

If the child paid the tuition, directly or via loans, and is claimed as a dependent, nobody can take the deduction.

My roommate told me something about a certain income threshold for dependents as well, I think it was $3650, but I don't know much about that. Worth checking.

 

[Sadie22]

Since there's some incorrect information being disseminated, here's a good place to start to get the facts:

http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=213044,00.html

 

[can'tgetenufofwdw]

May I ask what kind of part-time job he did to earn $11,000? That's pretty good money for a student.

He works at a Mobil gas station/convenience store. 40+ hours in the summer and on breaks and 24+ hours during the school year.