Turbo Tax is listing my son as a dependent but I don't think they should (tax year 2022)

Forum|Forum|3 years ago
March 31, 2023
1 reply
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He turned 21 in 2022

Made less than 4000 in 2022

He is my son

I did pay for his expenses

He was NOT a full- time student for 5 months (3 months only )

I double checked my responses to interview

Is Turbo tax wrong (because of not being a full- time student for 5 months in 2022) and should I just delete him?

Potential related challenge if I delete him, Is Turbo Tax then going to not recognize the 1099 Q (which they seem to mess up anyway) from a 529 - All the 1099-Q funds (Basis and Earnings) were spent on his education and Turbo Tax, like others in the forum report

VolvoGirl

Employee

Yes you can claim him as a qualifying relative if he made less than $4,400 in 2022.

Who can I claim as a dependent?

https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/credits-and-deductions/help/who-can-i-claim-as-my-dependent/00/26781

Hal_Al

Employee

There are two types of dependents, "Qualifying Children"(QC) and Other ("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. Only a QC qualifies a taxpayer for the Earned Income Credit.

Your son cannot be a QC because he was not a full time student long enough. But because his income was less than $4400, he can be a qualifying relative for 2022.

The support test is different for each type. The support test, for a QC, is only that the child didn't provide more than half his own support. The support test for a Qualifying Relative is that the taxpayer provided more than half the relative's support.

Q. Potential related challenge if I delete him, Is Turbo Tax then going to not recognize the 1099 Q (which they seem to mess up anyway) from a 529 - All the 1099-Q funds (Basis and Earnings) were spent on his education and Turbo Tax, like others in the forum report

A. Yes, the TT 1099-Q interview can handle the situation where the student was not a dependent (in fact, the interview is easier).

You can just not report the 1099-Q, at all, if your student-beneficiary has sufficient educational expenses, including room & board (even if he lives at home) to cover the distribution. When the box 1 amount on form 1099-Q is fully covered by expenses, TurboTax will enter nothing about the 1099-Q on the actual tax forms. But, it will prepare a 1099-Q worksheet for your records. You would still have to do the math to see if there were enough expenses left over for you to claim the tuition credit. You also cannot count expenses that were paid by tax free scholarships. You cannot double dip!

Reference: On form 1099-Q, instructions to the recipient reads: "Nontaxable distributions from CESAs and QTPs are not required to be reported on your income tax return. You must determine the taxability of any distribution."