Question

Dependent

Forum|Forum|5 years ago
February 14, 2021
1 reply
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Hi:

22yr old daughter lived with me all 12 months of 2020 and graduated from college in June of 2020. She got a job at end of August and continued to live with me contributing nothing to rent/mortgage, nothing to food nor to utilities etc. Can I claim her as dependent? Her income for Aug - Dec employment was 50,000.00.

A

AlanT222

No, you cannot claim her as a dependent. Her income would suggest that she provided for over half of her own support.

You can claim a child, relative, friend, or fiancé (etc.) as a dependent on your 2020 taxes as long as they meet the following requirements:

Qualifying child

They're related to you.
They aren't claimed as a dependent by someone else.
They're a U.S. citizen, resident alien, national, or a Canadian or Mexican resident.
They aren’t filing a joint return with their spouse.
They're under the age of 19 (or 24 for full-time students).
- No age limit for permanently and totally disabled children.
They lived with you for more than half the year (exceptions apply).
They didn't provide more than half of their own support for the year.

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O

Opus 17

Employee

I don’t think the answer of “no”, is entirely as black-and-white as the expert suggests. However, it may be difficult to prove to the IRS that your daughter did not provide more than half her own support.

First of all, your daughter satisfies the full-time student rule, because she was a full-time student for parts of five months during the year, in other words, the spring semester. That meets the full-time student test for 2020.

As far as support is concerned, your daughter’s support for 2020 includes all of her room and board, tuition, entertainment, travel, medical insurance and healthcare costs, and other expenses. For the period of time she was living with you, you provided support equal to her share of your housing expenses. (For example, if your household consisted of yourself, a spouse, your daughter, and another child, then the support you provided your daughter is 1/4 the total mortgage, food, utilities, insurance, and other housing expenses.)

money that your daughter saved, or that she spent for other people‘s living expenses, is not support that she provided her self.

Depending on how she spent that $50,000 salary, you may still have provided more than half her total support for the year. However, if she indicates that she cannot be claimed as a dependent, and your tax returns conflict with each other, the IRS will send letters to both of you asking for an explanation, and you will have to have the proof that your daughter did not provide more than half her own support.