<p>I met with my accountant today. I brought along D1´s tax information from her summer internship and on campus earnings. The accountant told me that it was time…I was totally unprepared for it. I should be happy, but I am not. I feel like she is taking another step away from me.</p>
<p>D1 is very happy because she is getting a refund. I told the accountant to send her his bill. He got a chuckle out of it. Next year, she will be seeing him on her own.</p>
<p>This is a milestone, OldFort. I understand your ambivalence entirely re the emancipation of your daughter economically. It is an emotional connection I suppose.<br>
Both of our sons are looking at graduate degrees where some programs consider them to be Not Emancipated till they are 28, married or not, working spouse or not. We didn’t plan on this caveat that went without mentioning somehow when they were in high school to say the least.<br>
At the moment, one is fully employed and paying his way although we did put him back on our health insurance in order to put money back in his pocket as our family plan allows for this for another year now, and second son is coasting with some merit dollars that take the sting out of extra needs. They both will get further degrees some way or another. Employed son is in final rounds for a better job. Perhaps he really will delay grad school till he is 28 years of age and we will be able to put some money back for retirement. Jobs are good things to have. Employed son is also on our family phone plan…that is the only benefit he gets from us that we pay for anymore. I was wondering though as he is applying for very grown up jobs now…if it really would help him to get a phone in the area code where he is working. Kinda silly to have his parents’ area code now.</p>
<p>Oldfort, that is a milestone to be celebrated. It’s bittersweet for sure, but how wonderful that your daughter has done so well financially that she is no longer needing to be a dependent!! Congratulations to you all.</p>
<p>Sounds silly, but I kind of feel like the day when D1 said to me, “I can tie my own shoe lace now.” We practiced and practiced, with me trying to show her how to do it facing her (so had to do it opposite way), not making much progress, then one day she just did it on her own.</p>
<p>When DS went to grad school in Canada and income from a TA position-DS definitely paid for the tax prep bill and got kicked off our group health insurance.</p>
<p>I found out when I did my taxes that my children can no longer be claimed because neither was a student last year and each earned more than $3650. I was not prepared and had not changed my withholding at work, so for the first time in years, I am paying more tax instead of getting a large refund. Even though they live here and pay me nothing, I can no longer file as head of household, so I went from HofH with two dependents to single with zero. Ouch.</p>
<p>MusicMom, is that right?? It doesn’t seem fair that when you are still paying all their support–room, board, insurance, phone etc–that a measly $3650 in earnings should eliminate them as a dependent!</p>
<p>I’m very concerned about this–haven’t done our taxes yet and now I’m afraid I may be in the same boat as you. Thanks for sharing, I think :(</p>
<p>Happened to us last year. We ended up paying in for the first time in forever 
DS was happy = he got money back…DH not so much.</p>
<p>curiouser, I also thought as long as I was paying all the bills that I could claim them, at least for head-of-household status, but I found out differently. I am sick about it. I usually get a rather large refund, and I have come to enjoy it! lol I have changed my W-4 at work to have more withheld so hopefully I don’t have to pay next year, but now my paycheck has been cut and my expenses have stayed the same. Or gone up, as is the case with gasoline. Both kids got refunds, btw. They are 24 and nearly 21, so not children any more, but still not independent.</p>
<p>musicmom, explain the situation to your kids and see if they would be willing to work something out with you. My parents did something similar with my sister when she was 21. She claimed herself and got a large refund and gave my parents what they would have gotten had they claimed her and kept the rest of the money for herself. It was a win win.</p>
<p>Maybe you could ask them to help you with some expenses around the house as well. They are old enough to help out.</p>
<p>My S will not be a dependent in 2011, as he will start his first full-time job & finally make enough not to be depending on us for more than 1/2 his support. I am still SO grateful that he was able to be re-added to our family policy on Jan 1 due to the Health Care Report Act, rather than having to pay for an individual policy for him while we waited for his security clearance & his job to start. I guess we will have to start adjusting our withholding as well. We will meet with the accountant soon & I guess this is one more thing we should talk about. Thanks for the heads up!</p>
<p>Yes, kind of startling, isn’t it? Happened to us this year as well.</p>
<p>Grad school son, age 24, with income about $6500 from several very part time jobs.
Turbotax would not allow me to claim him as dependent even though he is FT student.
He ‘pays’ his own tuition through scholarship and also does pay for his food and gas etc.
But we pay for his rent, phone, health insurance, a bunch of $$$$.</p>
<p>It is the combination of age (>23 years old) and income that disallows us to claim him. Doesn’t matter that he’s still a student or we pay toward his support.</p>
<p>We ended up fortunately with a MUCH smaller refund, but no additional tax due. Mostly from that magic “Making Work Pay” credit of $800 I think for 2010. I will need to change my withholding for this year to avoid a mess for 2011 taxes.</p>
<p>HI Mom I remember when your son was searching for his undergraduate college home! time really did fly by!</p>
<p>Yes, it does–can’t believe he will be starting his full-time job, just after D finishes her junior year of college! I still remember when I took them to preschool & in some ways it seems like yesterday & other times it seems lifetimes ago. Our mind is funny that way!</p>
<p>So glad most of our kids have done very well and continuing to lead interesting and exciting lives (as we are too, of course).</p>
<p>In the last 3 months, my oldest daughter got married, came off the phone plan, the auto insurance, the health insurance and obviously … as a dependent. Wow its been a wild wild ride with unexpected feelings.</p>
<p>I am seeing D1 this weekend. We are going to have a chat about giving me heads up if she is going to get married. Even if she is going to come off our phone plan, I am going to need some time to adjust</p>
<p>Wow, it would feel really weird if either of the kids got married. They only had one summer romance apiece and do not date or see anyone seriously. I guess we’ll get to that point some day, but I’m not interested in anyone rushing any fences and they don’t appear to be either!</p>
<p>Congrats!!! But don’t send your daughter to an accountant. Young people can easily file using TurboTax (or equivalent) using the cheapest version. Takes about 20 minutes after gathering all the documents.</p>
<p>I do our taxes via TurboTax, and my program allows other family members to do theirs, also…S did his in ten minutes last year. This year, we lose him as deduction. I have been funneling any payments for school through his accounts, just in case there is a deduction anywhere in there for him…no such luck. If he has less income next year, below the $3650, can we put him back on as a dependent?</p>
<p>[TurboTax®</a> - Tax Exemptions and Deductions for Families](<a href=“http://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tools/tax-tips/Family/Tax-Exemptions-and-Deductions-for-Families/INF12053.html]TurboTax®”>Dependent Tax Deductions and Credits for Families - TurboTax Tax Tips & Videos) has a webpage that answered some of my questions about dependents. Our S will still be a dependent for 2010 but no longer for 2011. We will try to encourage S to do his taxes with TurboTax this year. He still needs to get his forms from his U, where he was employed (we think they may have sent it to one of his CA addresses & it may have been returned, since we have never received the docs).</p>