Harlan Lunsford <hnslunsf...[at]bellsouth.net> wrote:
- quote -

Support is still required for an exemption.

It is really not the same. A child could have all of his
support coming from complete stangers and or government
assistance of some sort. The parents could still claim the
dependency even if they contributed nothing, as long as the
child himself did not provide over 50% of his own support.

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"Harlan Lunsford" <hnslunsford[at]bellsouth.net> wrote:

- quote -

You'd think so, wouldn't you? But it's simply not the case
since 2005. In this case, where OP is 18, his grandparents,
who don't live in his household, could be providing his
support. He would be a qualifying child of his parents,
with whom he lives, but not of his grandparents because of
the residence test.

Now let's make him 19 and working full-time. He's still
living at home with his parents and a 16 year old sibling.
His parents provide all support for both him and sibling.
He's not a qualifying child because of age, and he's not a
qualifying relative because of income

The younger sibling is the qualifying child of both the
sibling and the parents. When one person is the qualifying
child of more than one person, they're free to decide who
"uses" the child.

Now let's make the parents rich, so personal exemptions and
CTC are worthless. The 19 year old can claim the sibling as
a dependent, get the CTC, and perhaps even EITC even though
he contributes not a penny to the sibling's support.

--
Phil Marti
Clarksburg, MD

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Moderator:
- quote -

Every time a Tax Simplification Act is passed, the Internal
Revenue Code grows by at least 20%.

Stu

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Phil Marti wrote:
- quote -

Well be ashamed no longer. Since he lived with his parents
all year, if his parents did not provide more than of his
support, chances are that he did, and they can't claim him.
He claims himself.

Support is still required for an exemption.

ChEAr$,
Harlan Lunsford, EA n LA

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"Harlan Lunsford" <hnslunsford[at]bellsouth.net> wrote:

- quote -

Harlan, I'm ashamed of you. Here Congress goes to the
trouble of simplifying the law with the nonuniform uniform
definition of a qualifying child, and you mess it up. Since
1995 the question is whether he paid more than half his own
support. Whence comes the rest of it is irrelevant.

Phil Marti
Clarksburg, MD

Moderator:
Whenever I hear "tax simplification", I reach under my
pillow and click off the safety catch on my gun.

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jhathorn[at]gmail.com wrote:

- quote -

Well I just don't know the answer. (And I've been around a
while, too.)

it depends on this - whether or not your parents provided
more than half of your total support. You and they are just
going to have to do the numbers to find out. There are
worksheets for this, just look at IRS publication 17.

ChEAr$,
Harlan Lunsford, EA n LA

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jhathorn[at]gmail.com wrote:

- quote -

You are the qualifying child of your parents for them to
claim the dependency exemption as long as you have a
taxpayer ID, you're a US citizen or US resident alien or US
National or a resident of Canada or Mexico, and the amount
of time spent living with your parents was greater than 6
months and you are not self-supporting. You are
self-supporting if after adding up the total cost to support
you for the year, you actually contributed more than half
by providing your own funds. Support includes lodging
(actual rent paid or fair rental value of the space provided
to you), repairs to the household, food, utilities,
clothing, education, medical, dental, travel, recreation and
any other personal expenses.

--
Alan
http://taxtopics.net

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jhath...[at]gmail.com wrote:

- quote -

Whether your parents can claim you or not, you need to file
your own tax return. If you lived with them more than six
months, then they can claim you as a dependent if you did
not provide more than half of your own support. There are
worksheets you can use to determine this if you aren't sure.
One example can be found here:

http://www.finance.cch.com/tools/support_m.asp

If they provided more than half of your support, they can
claim you as a dependent and when you file your return, you
must check the box that says someone else is claiming you.
This will limit your deduction to $5,150 and you will have
to pay tax on any income above that.

Dennis

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jhathorn[at]gmail.com posted:

- quote -

Yes, and yes. The relationship of parenthood is a special
one, according to the IRS -- and so long as you live at home
and are a full-time student, your parents claim you until
age 24.

However, you should still file a return of your own, to
report your earnings. And you must acknowledge that you
_could_ be claimed as a dependent. That's inevitable, under
IRS regs, and you will therefore be unable to claim yourself
as an exemption.

That doesn't mean that you will still owe more tax.
Depending on the amount withheld (and you should have filled
out a W-4 claiming _no_ exemptions), you might well receive
a refund ... but that is separate from your status as a
dependent.

This is all detailed with reasonable clarity in Pub 17 for
2006, beginning at the bottom of page 25, with a excellent
chart and specific "caution" on page 26.

Bill

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<jhathorn[at]gmail.com> wrote

- quote -

Possibly both. Your parents could still claim you as a
dependent, and, you need to file your own return for that
$10,000.

--
Paul Thomas, CPA
paulthomascpapc[at]bellsouth.net

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<jhathorn[at]gmail.com> wrote:

- quote -

Probably both.

Unless you provided more than half your own support for the
year you are your parents' "qualifying child." That makes
you a dependent.

You still must file your own return because of your income.
Assuming that at least $5,150 of your income was from
working you will get that amount as your standard deduction,
but you get no personal exemption. If you have just turned
18 in 2007 and had more than $1,700 of investment income you
must compute your tax on Form 8615.

--
Phil Marti
Clarksburg, MD

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jhath...[at]gmail.com wrote:

- quote -

See Table 3-1 in Publication 17 (Page 26) for the definition
of Dependent. See Table 1-2 in Publication 17 (Page 6) for
your filing requirements

Read also about the Support Test on Page 28 of Publication
17.

These are the parts you need to start. If you read and based
on what you have said, I understand that you must:
a) File
b) Claim your own income (W-2)
c) Don't get an exemption 'cause your parents get it.

Sorry about the bad news. Welcome to the working world. You
don't have to take my word for this. Check out the details
yourself.

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I need to find out if I am a dependant?

I am 18
I live with my parents
I am a student
I earned more than $10,000

Do my parents still claim me, or do I need to file my w-2?

Jon

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