Grandparent Pays Tuition

[Tax Sleuth]

A taxpayer is a noncustodial parent. He has a properly completed Form 8332 for tax year 2017, and he is going to claim his daughter for an exemption for 2017. His daughter just started college in 2017, and her grandparent pays her tuition expenses to go to college. I don't know if the grandparent pays the money to the school directly. Can this noncustodial parent take an American Opportunity Tax Credit on his tax return because of this type of situation?

[TaxGuyBill]

Yes.

Publication 970: "Qualified education expenses paid by a dependent for whom you claim an exemption, or by a third party for that dependent, are considered paid by you."

https://www.irs.gov/publications/p970#en_US_2017_publink1000204325