Student

[RLymanC]

A 19 year old attends:

Enrolled as a full time student in home schooling in senior year......... EIC OK
Enrolled as a full time student in a charter school in senoir year...........EIC OK
Qualifing child status OK

Looking in TTB 3-15 it says:
A child who during any part of five calendar months was enrolled as a full-time student at
at school. Define the word "at"

[Koss]

Definition

A 19 year old attends:

Enrolled as a full time student in home schooling in senior year......... EIC OK
Enrolled as a full time student in a charter school in senoir year...........EIC OK
Qualifing child status OK

Looking in TTB 3-15 it says:
A child who during any part of five calendar months was enrolled as a full-time student at
at school. Define the word "at"

Pub. 17 provides a definition for ther term student. It has not changed from last year. With respect to EIC, the definition I am referring to is found on page 236.

I question whether home schooling would qualify. If the 19 year old in question, who is home schooled, is formally registered in some way with the local school district, in a home schooling system that will enable him to obtain a high school diploma of some sort, then I would take the agressive position on behalf of the client.

I have lost some of my faith in the accuracy of Pub. 17 since the UDC mess. But the definition of a student in the tax code hasn't changed. I haven't looked it up. What has changed is society's definition of a student, as some traditional boundaries are beginning to disappear.

Pub. 17 says that "correspondence schools and internet schools do not count as schools for the EIC." But it says that colleges and universities do count.

Five years ago, the publication said nothing about "internet schools." Today we have something called internet schools, and the IRS thinks that's not what Congress had in mind for EIC. I have no idea what an "internet school" is.

I do know that it is possible to take an entire course online at our local community college, without ever setting foot on the campus. And even before Al Gore "invented" the internet, there were grad students 25 years ago who would finish their coursework at Yale, take a job in San Francisco, and write their PhD dissertation a couple thousand miles from the campus where their doctoral advisor was. Over the course of three or four years, while working on the dissertation, these students remain enrolled, and they pay tuition. Many of them continue to get loans and grants. Today these students communicate with their advisors by e-mail; 25 years ago they actually used the US Postal Service and telephones that were attached to a wall.

These are students who enrolled at accredited colleges and universities. This is sometimes referred to as "distance learning." Whatever an "internet school" is, this is not what the IRS is talking about in Pub. 17.

My point is: whether your 19-year old home-schooled kid is a student for purposes of EIC is going to hinge not on where he's at, but on what type of school he is attending. (I know an attorney named Clinton who can help you define the word is.) If his home schooling is recognized by the state board of education, I'd say go for it.

What about the "five months" requirement?

Did the kid graduate at some point during 2005?