Dependents who are students and age requirement

[S T]

Just need some confirmation - under the dependent guidelines (age test) - child has to be "under" age 24 at the end of the tax year (2015) and a student.

If the child turned age 24 say Jan 2015, then they would not be "under" the age of 24, and no longer elgible under Qualifying Child even though they were a student

Go to Qualifying Relative - and would not qualify under the gross income test, as child's gross income is in excess of $ 4,000

I believe this taxpayer just lost a dependent, even though parent is still paying for College and Supporting Child


Thanks

Sandy

[Roland Slugg]

I believe this taxpayer just lost a dependent.

He probably hasn't lost a dependent, but yes, he lost a tax exemption for that dependent.

[ATSMAN]

Just need some confirmation - under the dependent guidelines (age test) - child has to be "under" age 24 at the end of the tax year (2015) and a student.

If the child turned age 24 say Jan 2015, then they would not be "under" the age of 24, and no longer elgible under Qualifying Child even though they were a student

Go to Qualifying Relative - and would not qualify under the gross income test, as child's gross income is in excess of $ 4,000

I believe this taxpayer just lost a dependent, even though parent is still paying for College and Supporting Child


Thanks

Sandy

Happens to all of us. Those are the rules and I recall telling my wife about it and she did not think it was fair because our son was still on our insurance and we were supporting him, paying college costs, except for the $8K or so he earned part time.

[ruthc]

I have smae situation

(Oops! Sorry about the spelling of "same" above). I have the same situation, but the student is 26 yrs old, but wants the parent to claim her. She doesn't mind losing the extra $ by not claiming herself. Not only that, she made about $10K in 2015. It gets to the point where there are so many people wanting to claim the dependent that it gets my mind thinking that I am missing some new rule. Glad to have someone confirm the very basic rule!

[Lion]

And, it can be worse. We paid everything for our college daughter (husband's daughter), but her mother was able to claim her AND claim the education benefits too for four/five years of college! (Divorce decree before the new "universal" definition of a child and the new education benefits.)