tru2dave[at]yahoo.com (BeckieA.) wrote:

- quote -

Looks like you got a lot of misinformation.

Since she is your daughter, she does not need to live with
you for you to claim her as a dependent, but you must pay
for more than half of her total support, regardless of where
she lives. She must be a citizen or resident of the US, or a
resident of Canada or Mexico; and she must not file a joint
return. These apply regardless of her age.

If she's under 19, or a full-time student under 24 (as of
the end of the year), she can have any amount of income of
her own. If she's 19 or older, or a full-time student 24 or
older, her own gross income must be under $3,000 (as of
2002; I don't know the 2003 limit offhand).

If any of these are borderline (somebody else also pays for
her support, or she's possibly not a citizen or resident, or
she's married and might want to file a joint return, or she
has income of her own), see IRS Pub. 501 and work through
the details there.

You may have gotten into a misunderstanding with H&R Block
as to whether the exemption for a dependent or the child tax
credit is the real question. The child tax credit cuts off
at 17; if she's 17 at the end of the year, you no longer get
the $600-raised-to-$1000 tax credit. But you still get the
dependency exemption, so long as she's under 24 and a
full-time student.

--
Chris Green

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"BeckieA." <tru2dave[at]yahoo.com> wrote:

- quote -

First of all, whether she lives at home or she attends
school away from home is immaterial.

Your child must meet all five dependency tests for her to
qualify as your dependent. These tests are:

1) Relationship or residency - your child meets this test

2) Citizenship - you didn't indicate but I assume she's a
U.S. citizen

3) Joint return test - I assume your daughter is unmarried.
If so, this test is met automatically

4) Gross income test - this is usually the most important
test for college age dependents. In general, your
daughter flunks this test if she is over age 18 as of the
end of the year and has gross income in excess of the
exemption amount. However, children are exempted
altogether from this test if they are full-time college
students for some part of at least 5 months of the year
and are under age 24 as of the end of the tax year.
For 2003, the exemption allowance is $3,050.

5) Support test - you must provide more than 50% of your
daughter's support.

To reiterate, if your daughter continues to meet all 5
tests, you can continue to claim her until she is age 23.

Barney Byrd

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tru2dave[at]yahoo.com (BeckieA.) wrote:

- quote -

Looks like you got a lot of misinformation.

Since she is your daughter, she does not need to live with
you for you to claim her as a dependent, but you must pay
for more than half of her total support, regardless of where
she lives. She must be a citizen or resident of the US, or a
resident of Canada or Mexico; and she must not file a joint
return. These apply regardless of her age.

If she's under 19, or a full-time student under 24 (as of
the end of the year), she can have any amount of income of
her own. If she's 19 or older, or a full-time student 24 or
older, her own gross income must be under $3,000 (as of
2002; I don't know the 2003 limit offhand).

If any of these are borderline (somebody else also pays for
her support, or she's possibly not a citizen or resident, or
she's married and might want to file a joint return, or she
has income of her own), see IRS Pub. 501 and work through
the details there.

You may have gotten into a misunderstanding with H&R Block
as to whether the exemption for a dependent or the child tax
credit is the real question. The child tax credit cuts off
at 17; if she's 17 at the end of the year, you no longer get
the $600-raised-to-$1000 tax credit. But you still get the
dependency exemption, so long as she's under 24 and a
full-time student.

--
Chris Green

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"BeckieA." <tru2dave[at]yahoo.com> wrote:

- quote -

Depends on what you are claiming her for.

You can claim her for a dependency exemption if you fulfill
the dependency requirement:
1. Member of household or relationship
2. Citizen or resident
3. Joint Return
4. Gross Income
5. Support

Since she is your daughter, she qualifies under the
relationship test regardless of whether she lives at home or
not. The gross income test isn't relevant IF she is under 24
and a full time student. And you must provide more than 50%
of her total support. (See IRS pub 17 for more details)

I think H&R was referring to the Child tax credit as she
doesn't qualify for that credit because she is too old.

You may also be able to claim a HOPE education credit if you
pay for her college, your income is in the right range and
you can claim her as a dependent. (See IRS pub 970 for more
detail)

Dean Gilger, EA CPA CMA

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"BeckieA." <tru2dave[at]yahoo.com> wrote:

- quote -

You should be able to claim your daughter as a dependent as
long as she is a student any 5 months in a tax year
regardless of the amount of income she may make working
while she is in college as long as she is under 24 years of
age.

Wayne Brasch, CPA, M. S. Taxation

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ru2dave[at]yahoo.com (BeckieA.) wrote:

- quote -

The information you received from both sources is in error.
There is no age limit for claiming a dependency exemption.
There are 5 tests you must pass to claim a dependency
exemption. As this is your child, you already pass one of
the tests. Assuming the child is a citizen, you pass another
test. Assuming the child is not married and filing a joint
return with her husband, you pass another test. That leaves
just two tests. The most importatnt is that you paid more
than 50% of the total support for the child. The final test
is that the child did not have gross income of $3000 or more
in 2002 ($3050 in 2003). In the case where the dependent is
your child, there is no gross income test if the child is
either under the age of 19 or under the age of 24 and a
full-time student. In these cases the child can have any
amount of income. A full-time student is defined as anyone
who attends school for some part of at least five months
while enrolled for the number of hours or courses that the
school considers to be full-time.

There are other exceptions when dealing with a child of
divorced or separated parents and a child that is
permanently and totally disabled.

All of this is explained in IRS Pub 501 at:
http://www.irs.gov/formspubs/page/0,...193,00.html#T9

Alan
http://taxtopics.net

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tru2dave[at]yahoo.com (BeckieA.) writes:

- quote -

There are five tests for dependency. (See IRS Publication
501.) One of them is the gross income test, which says that
in general you cannot claim an exemption for someone who has
gross income in excess of the personal exemption amount
($3,000 in 2002).

There is a modification for children. The gross income test
does not apply to any child who is under age 19 at the end
of the taxable year or a child under 24 at the end of the
taxable year if the child was a full time student in at
least 5 calendar months of the year.

Phil Marti
Topeka, KS

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"BeckieA." <tru2dave[at]yahoo.com> wrote:

- quote -

Fulltime student (for at least part of each of 5 months
during the year) under the age of 24 may be claimed. Time
away from home to attend school is considered to be
temporary absence & is not disqualifying.

Don Rosenberg, EA

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- quote -

What I hope HRB told you and you misunderstood is at the age
of 17, she is no longer eligible for the child tax credit.
She is still your dependent.

- quote -

As long as she is a full time college student, she does not
have to live at home and you can claim her until the year
she turns 24.

Helen, EA in PA
Member of The Tax Gang
President, PA Society of Enrolled Agents
1040EZ and 1040A tax prep at www.1040.com/1040pro

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Hello to all
Quick question. Up to what age can I claim my child/college
student on my taxes? She is now 18 starting college and
living at home. H&R Block told me I can only claim her
until she is 17 and living at home.

Another person told me as long as she is living at home and
I am assisting in raising her I can claim her until she is
either 20 or 21.

Can someone address this question.

Thank you in advance. Beckie

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