College Tuition for Child

Forum|Forum|6 years ago
March 15, 2020
1 reply
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I have an adult age child who is a full time student. I do not claim him as a dependent on my taxes; however, I paid for approximately 40% of his college tuition and associated cost in 2019 (his mother paid for the other 60% as per our divorce agreement). I do not know if she still claims him as a dependent or not. Is the 40% of his college cost that I paid for tax deductible?

Hal_Al

Employee

No. The tuition credit goes with the student's dependency, regardless of who paid. If your ex still claims him, she can claim the tuition credit and even count the amounts you paid in calculating that credit.

If the student claims himself, he claims the credit and counts the amount paid by both parents plus what he paid himself. For an undergrads, it only takes $4000 of tuition to get the maximum credit ($2500). But there are restrictions on students, under age 24, getting the refundable portion ($1000) of that credit on his own return. . It is usually best if a parent claims that credit.

NCPERSON1

also, the issue of 'claiming' is a little confusing.

the student can only be eligible to claim the credit if the parent CAN'T claim the child. if the parent can claim the student but decides not to, then the student isn't eligible to take the credit.

The critical question is CAN the parent claim the child, not DID the parent claim the child.

Hal_Al

Employee

If the student actually has a tax liability she can claim a non-refundable credit (she still can't get any of the up to $1000 refundable credit) but then the parent must forgo claiming the student's exemption (other dependent credit starting in 2018) and the student still can’t claim himself (not important if he has earned income). For this to work, the student would have to have a tax liability to take the credit against. You would have to weigh the value of his credit/deduction against your loss of the other dependent credit. (Note: this is a special provision for this situation).