"MarkSchlenoff" <polyad[at]comcast.net> wrote:

- quote -

There is no part-year dependency, just like there's no
part-year marriage for tax purposes. If he qualifies as
your dependent for the year, you can take the credit. See
Publication 501 to see if he's your "qualifying child."
(Hint: it's going to boil down to whether he provided more
than half his own support for the entire year.)

--
Phil Marti
Clarksburg, MD

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MarkSchlenoff wrote:

- quote -

You can only claim the LLC if your son is your dependent.
There is no such thing as being a dependent from 1/1/05 to
5/10/05.

Your son would be your qualifying child for the dependency
exemption if he was under age 24 at year-end 2005 and
attended school full time for any part of at least 5 months
and he lived with you for more than 6 months and he did not
provide more than half of his own support for the year.
Temporary absences to attend school count as time spent
living with you if your home was considered his main home
while attending school.

If he fails the test because of age (he was not under age
24) or because he did not reside with you for more than 6
months, he may still be your dependent as a qualifying
relative. However, this test requires that you provided
more than half of his total support for the year and that he
had taxable gross income for the year of less than $3200 and
that he did not live with another parent or grandparent for
more more than 6 months such that he would be that person's
qualifying child. (There are a couple of other tests, but
I'll assume he passes those.)

The bottom line is that he must qualify as your dependent
for the year in order for you to claim the LLC. If he was
not your dependent nor anyone else's dependent, then he
could use the amounts you spent for his qualified
educational expense to claim the LLC on his own tax return.

<< ================================================== ===== > << The foregoing is intended for educational purposes only > << and does NOT constitute legal OR professional advice. > << > << The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting > << messages to this newsgroup are at www.asktax.org. > << Copyright (2006) - All rights reserved. > << ================================================== ===== >

"MarkSchlenoff" <polyad[at]comcast.net> wrote

- quote -

Maybe your son can. But if he took a job, that pays well,
then he's not your dependent.

--
Paul A. Thomas, CPA
Athens, Georgia

<< ================================================== ===== > << The foregoing is intended for educational purposes only > << and does NOT constitute legal OR professional advice. > << > << The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting > << messages to this newsgroup are at www.asktax.org. > << Copyright (2006) - All rights reserved. > << ================================================== ===== >

My son graduated from college in May of 2005. He was my
dependent from 1/1/05 through 5/10/05 (graduation day). I
paid for his tuition, room, board, textbooks, graduation
fees, etc. I don't qualify for the Hope but I think I
qualify for the Lifetime Learning credit. Total expenses
were $8100 less $1000 of scholarship money. Can I claim
this?

<< ================================================== ===== > << The foregoing is intended for educational purposes only > << and does NOT constitute legal OR professional advice. > << > << The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting > << messages to this newsgroup are at www.asktax.org. > << Copyright (2006) - All rights reserved. > << ================================================== ===== >