College Student Dependent

Forum|Forum|5 years ago
January 21, 2021
2 replies
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Per our divorce decree my ex claims our 19 year old college student as a dependent. I have paid for all of her college expenses. Am I allowed to claim any of the expenses as a deduction even though she's not my dependent?

xmasbaby0

Employee

Sorry--only the person who claims the student as a dependent can get the education credit.

**Disclaimer: Every effort has been made to offer the most correct information possible. The poster disclaims any legal responsibility for the accuracy of the information that is contained in this post.**

1516Author

Am I at least allowed to claim Interest that I have paid on her student loans?

xmasbaby0

Employee

@1516

STUDENT LOAN INTEREST

Only the person whose name is on the student loan and who is legally obligated to pay the loan can deduct the student loan interest. If you did not sign or co-sign for the loan you cannot deduct the interest.

You cannot deduct student loan interest if you are being claimed as someone else’s dependent, or if you are filing as married filing separately.

The student loan interest deduction can reduce your taxable income by up to $2500

There is a phaseout for the Student loan interest deduction, which means the amount you can deduct gets reduced when your modified adjusted gross income hits certain income levels and is even eliminated at certain income levels -

• If your filing status is single, head of household, or qualifying widow(er), then the phaseout begins at $65,000 until $80,000, after which the deduction is eliminated entirely.

• If your filing status is married filing joint, then the phaseout beings at $130,000 until $160,000, after which the deduction is eliminated entirely.

Enter the interest you paid for your student loan by going to Federal>Deductions and Credits>Education>Student Loan Interest Paid in 2020 (Form 1098E)

Look on your 2020 Schedule 1 line 20 to see your student loan interest deduction

Hal_Al

Employee

Your ex may claim the education credit, even though you paid the expenses, since the student is his dependent.

You may claim the loan interest only if you co-signed the loan or it was a parent loan. The student does not need to be your dependent, this year, but must have been your dependent for the years the loan money was used to pay expenses. So, probably not.

Here's a new issue: If your child is emancipated (18 in almost all states), she is no longer considered to be in anybody's custody. So the special rules for divorced parents no longer apply. If the student normally lives with you, she is now only your "qualifying child" and the other parent cannot claim her, unless the qualifying relative rules apply (unlikely). That is, your divorce decree may no longer be valid, and you can claim her because she live with you. You may want to review this with your lawyer (I am not lawyer).

There are two types of dependents, "Qualifying Children"(QC) and standard ("Qualifying Relative" in IRS parlance even though they don't have to actually be related). There is no income limit for a QC but there is an age limit, student status, a relationship test and residence test.

See full dependent rules at: https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tools/tax-tips/Family/Rules-for-Claiming-a-Dependent-on-Your-Tax-Return/INF12139.html