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American Opportunity Credit and 2 college students living together

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    American Opportunity Credit and 2 college students living together

    This is situation--I have prepared a tax return for this young man for several years. He is finishing up his last year of college--and he qualifies for the Lifetime learning credit because he's already taken AOC 4 years in past. His son lives with him and now the girlfriend is also living with him (not the baby's mother). This young man wants to claim the girlfriend and take the AOC for her. She is 20 and does have a job too and made around 3800 in 2017. The girlfriends parents are both alive. I know she cannot get the refundable portion of AOC herself and would have to be a dependent on parents return to qualify for that. Parents have provided no support to her. She has been supported by the boyfriend she lives with and what income she has had. I've advised them the girls parents should claim her and take the credit but the response is the parents have not provided any support and the boyfriend has

    #2
    Originally posted by Bonnie View Post
    This is situation--I have prepared a tax return for this young man for several years. He is finishing up his last year of college--and he qualifies for the Lifetime learning credit because he's already taken AOC 4 years in past. His son lives with him and now the girlfriend is also living with him (not the baby's mother). This young man wants to claim the girlfriend and take the AOC for her. She is 20 and does have a job too and made around 3800 in 2017. The girlfriends parents are both alive. I know she cannot get the refundable portion of AOC herself and would have to be a dependent on parents return to qualify for that. Parents have provided no support to her. She has been supported by the boyfriend she lives with and what income she has had. I've advised them the girls parents should claim her and take the credit but the response is the parents have not provided any support and the boyfriend has
    Did BF and GF live together for all of 2017? If not, nothing for him to claim on her.
    Did GF provide over 1/2 of own support? If she took out student loans, that needs to be added to her W2 income.

    If she didn't live with parents at all in 2017, I don't see how they could claim her either. It sounds like the situation is different than a temporary absence while away at school.

    Comment


      #3
      My View

      The female is 20 and a full time student. To me that means the parent's can claim her as a dependent as long as the daughter did not provide over 1/2 of her own support. For the male to claim the female, as was previously stated, she had to have lived with him all year. If he claims her, and the parents do as well they trump him and he loses. Either they check with the parents or they roll the dice. Problem is for a tax pro to do this, I think you have a lot of exposure due to Form 8867 and Due Diligence.

      Comment


        #4
        Parents claiming her is not the issue. They have already filed and did not claim her because they didn't think they could. When I said they should because they could get the refundable AOC none of the individuals involved feels the parents should claim her, including the parents. The parents want the boyfriend to claim her

        I have taken the AOC for a boyfriend who claimed the girlfriend in the past but she was over 24 so the parent issue did not come into play in that situation.

        Comment


          #5
          Originally posted by Bonnie View Post
          Parents claiming her is not the issue. They have already filed and did not claim her because they didn't think they could. When I said they should because they could get the refundable AOC none of the individuals involved feels the parents should claim her, including the parents. The parents want the boyfriend to claim her

          I have taken the AOC for a boyfriend who claimed the girlfriend in the past but she was over 24 so the parent issue did not come into play in that situation.
          Just because they didn't think they could doesn't mean that couldn't. Perhaps amending their return is in order.
          Believe nothing you have not personally researched and verified.

          Comment


            #6
            Originally posted by Kram BergGold View Post
            The female is 20 and a full time student. To me that means the parent's can claim her as a dependent as long as the daughter did not provide over 1/2 of her own support.
            And meets the other requirements, such as living with the parents for more than half of the year.

            Comment

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