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April 12, 2024
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I can't claim my daughter as a dependent. She is 19 and a full time student, she earned 4900 last year and I pay for well over half of her expenses

  • April 12, 2024
  • 2 replies
  • 0 views
Turbo tax will not allow me to claim her education expenses either.  My conversation with IRS said she should be allowed as a dependent
Best answer by VolvoGirl

There are a couple questions you could have answered wrong under My Info.  Click on My Info then click Edit by Dependents, then click Edit by their name and go though all the screens again.

 

First of all check their date of birth.

 

If your child was away at college, count the number of months away as having lived with you.  The correct answer to claim the person is to say "the whole year". This will indicate you supported the person the whole year, thus it will be entered on your return correctly showing up as a dependent.   Or if your child was born during the year they are considered to have lived with you the whole year so be sure to answer All Year (pick the top box for the Whole Year).

 

Or the one that says did your CHILD pay more than half of their support.  It's not asking if you did.

 

If you can't get it to change then try completely deleting them and re-entering them.  Sometimes that helps to clear something out.

 

@BillM223  She did say she's a full time student.  

2 replies

VolvoGirl
VolvoGirlAnswer
Employee
April 12, 2024

There are a couple questions you could have answered wrong under My Info.  Click on My Info then click Edit by Dependents, then click Edit by their name and go though all the screens again.

 

First of all check their date of birth.

 

If your child was away at college, count the number of months away as having lived with you.  The correct answer to claim the person is to say "the whole year". This will indicate you supported the person the whole year, thus it will be entered on your return correctly showing up as a dependent.   Or if your child was born during the year they are considered to have lived with you the whole year so be sure to answer All Year (pick the top box for the Whole Year).

 

Or the one that says did your CHILD pay more than half of their support.  It's not asking if you did.

 

If you can't get it to change then try completely deleting them and re-entering them.  Sometimes that helps to clear something out.

 

@BillM223  She did say she's a full time student.  

Employee
April 12, 2024

If your daughter was a full-time student in 2023, and it is not letting you claim her, you have answered something incorrectly in MY INFO.    If she was NOT a full-time student in 2023 then no, you cannot claim her.

**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.**
Employee
April 12, 2024

Living away at school is a "temporary absence" so you still need to say she lived with you all year if she was a student.   And.....if she is your dependent, you are the one who gets to enter education credit.    When she prepares her own tax return she must say on it that she can be claimed as someone else's dependent.

**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.**