If the child does not qualify as a dependent, then only he or she will claim any educational credits. The parents may only claim any tuition or education expenses when they are also claiming the student as a dependent. However, the student needs to be certain they cannot be claimed by the parents. This would be true if:Student turned 24 before December 31, 2017Student earned more than $4050 in income in the year.If the student was still younger than 24 as of December 31, 2017, then they would not be their parents' dependent if:They lived at home for less than 6 months (school is considered living at home. The student lived at home at least 5 months. After school, if the student did not return home, the student then moved. Otherwise, student would be living at home until he or she did finally move).The student provided at least half of his or her own support.Yes, the student graduated. However, since the student was in school for 5 months, he or she can still be a dependent, and, if so, would best allow his or her parents to claim tuition expenses.If the student was not a dependent, however, the student should claim the expenses.

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dandeb50g

Question

Child graduated college in May, no longer dependent in 2017, can parents claim 2017 tuition?

Forum|Forum|6 years ago
June 6, 2019
2 replies
0 views

No text available

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DanielV01

Employee

If the child does not qualify as a dependent, then only he or she will claim any educational credits. The parents may only claim any tuition or education expenses when they are also claiming the student as a dependent. However, the student needs to be certain they cannot be claimed by the parents. This would be true if:

Student turned 24 before December 31, 2017
Student earned more than $4050 in income in the year.

If the student was still younger than 24 as of December 31, 2017, then they would not be their parents' dependent if:

They lived at home for less than 6 months (school is considered living at home. The student lived at home at least 5 months. After school, if the student did not return home, the student then moved. Otherwise, student would be living at home until he or she did finally move).
The student provided at least half of his or her own support.

Yes, the student graduated. However, since the student was in school for 5 months, he or she can still be a dependent, and, if so, would best allow his or her parents to claim tuition expenses.

If the student was not a dependent, however, the student should claim the expenses.

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Bsch4477

Employee

You sure she is not your dependent? Did the child attend school full time from Jan-May and was sunder age 24?

GhengisK

I too have a 2020 undergrad college graduate who as in school thru May 2020.. We (parents) paid tuition minus loans and scholarships.

When it comes to calculating support for the full year, for sure the college tuition adds up to more than 1/2 of what he would have paid to support himself even if he moved away right away (he did for a 5 months but then came back for 2 months ). I was thinking him paying us rent for that time back home would keep us on the right side of this but if I have to include all the expenses while he was still in school, he will have to be our dependent. This means, of course, he won't be eligible for the 2 Covid-19 stimulus payments he would have gotten in 2020 (didn't since he was clearly dependent in 2019) and he won't be eligible for the proposed new payment in 2021.

Am I thinking about this correctly or is there some way he can legitimately be considered independent for 2020 without billing him for a good portion of the tuition ? I was assuming I am done with the tax credits since we claimed the AOTC for 4 yrs already and can't claim tuition paid as a deduction any more thanks to tax law changes. So the only benefit to me to claim him as a deduction is $500 I believe. Him being independent would be far better financially due to the covid relief (his job was pushed off in time and he missed out on much salary for 2020 as it is)

Appreciate thoughts .

Hal_Al

Employee

If you have used the American opportunity credit 4 times, you are still eligible for the Lifetime Learning Credit, which is 20% of tuition paid (up to $10,000). It is non-refundable.

You have already thought of all the possibilities. Retroactive payments for room, board and tuition might not meet the definition of legitimate.

NeedGrace

Confused STILL on the CARES Act Recovery Rebate. In 2020, spouse & I had 2 college students fully dependent upon us.

Student# 1: Jan-June 2020 was full-time graduate student (age 23, turned 24 mid December 2020)
Lived at home 100% of year, we paid for all living and support expenses. *It looks like per the notes above that the exception of my Student#1 being 23 and in school full time at least 5 months would mean he was eligible as a dependent no matter what his income was. Is this correct? TurboTax form tells me he is not eligible, as he earned over $12k during the 2020 calendar year.

Student# 2: Full-time undergraduate 2nd year college student. Lived at home 100% of year, we paid for school and all living and support expenses. It would seem that we are still eligible for the Recovery Rebate - but the TurboTax form acts like spouse & I already received max for 2020 ($2400 & $1200) - yet TurboTax does not offer the "recovery rebate" option.

Should i work independently with a tax preparer instead of TurboTax this year?