Daughter is no longer a dependent on my tax return

Parent Cafe
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<p>oldfort (and others) if your daughter was less than age 24 at the end of the year and a full-time student, you may want to read IRS Pub 501. Students in that age group can make quite a bit more than the $3650 threshold that applies for older children and still count as your dependent.
[Publication</a> 501 (2010), Exemptions, Standard Deduction, and Filing Information](<a href=“Publication 501 (2022), Dependents, Standard Deduction, and Filing Information | Internal Revenue Service”>Publication 501 (2022), Dependents, Standard Deduction, and Filing Information | Internal Revenue Service)</p>

<p>Some important points from the publication:
1)***See especially Worksheet 1 Worksheet for Determining Support – near the bottom of the page. Very helpful.</p>

<p>Other points:
1)"Do Not Include in Total Support
The following items are not included in total support.</p>

<p>Federal, state, and local income taxes paid by persons from their own income.</p>

<p>Social security and Medicare taxes paid by persons from their own income.</p>

<p>Life insurance premiums.</p>

<p>Funeral expenses.</p>

<p>***Scholarships received by your child if your child is a full-time student.</p>

<p>Survivors’ and Dependents’ Educational Assistance payments used for the support of the child who receives them."</p>

<p>2) “Person’s own funds not used for support. A person’s own funds are not support unless they are actually spent for support.” In other words, if part of your child’s earning go into savings, that money does NOT count as support.</p>

<p>3) "Total Support
To figure if you provided more than half of a person’s support, you must first determine the total support provided for that person. Total support includes amounts spent to provide food, lodging, clothing, education, medical and dental care, recreation, transportation, and similar necessities. </p>

<p>Generally, the amount of an item of support is the amount of the expense incurred in providing that item. For lodging, the amount of support is the fair rental value of the lodging. </p>

<p>Expenses that are not directly related to any one member of a household, such as the cost of food for the household, must be divided among the members of the household."
Examples are given in the Publication. If your kid is living with you, using your furniture, you calculate what the fair rental value of the <em>furnished</em> lodging would be. To quote the publication:
"Lodging. If you provide a person with lodging, you are considered to provide support equal to the fair rental value of the room, apartment, house, or other shelter in which the person lives. Fair rental value includes a reasonable allowance for the use of furniture and appliances, and for heat and other utilities that are provided. </p>

<p>Fair rental value defined. This is the amount you could reasonably expect to receive from a stranger for the same kind of lodging. It is used instead of actual expenses such as taxes, interest, depreciation, paint, insurance, utilities, cost of furniture and appliances, etc. In some cases, fair rental value may be equal to the rent paid. </p>

<p>If you provide the total lodging, the amount of support you provide is the fair rental value of the room the person uses, <strong><em>or a share of the fair rental value of the entire dwelling if the person has use of your entire home.</em></strong> (emphasis mine) If you do not provide the total lodging, the total fair rental value must be divided depending on how much of the total lodging you provide. If you provide only a part and the person supplies the rest, the fair rental value must be divided between both of you according to the amount each provides. "
Total food costs are divided by the number of people in the household to figure out how much “support” you are providing for the (possible) dependent.</p>

<p>Hope this helps some of you.
I apologize that I have forgotten how to post block quotes here - it’s different from how it’s done on another board I frequent.</p>

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<p>Folks, there is something that I don’t understand here (in a couple of comments only). If your child makes enough money to pay income taxes (not just ssi or medicare), and that child can get a deduction for him or her self on his or her own tax return, and get back money paid in income taxes, would you not your child to get back his or her own money that was withheld? I realize that it means the parents pay more taxes because the child is not a dependent (and you may support the child) for tax purposes, but at that point isn’t junior or juniorette an adult on their own? Isn’t what you give in a support a “gift”? </p>

<p>I can understand feeling pinched losing a deduction when the kid only made $3600 or so, and won’t pay income tax, since it is uncle sam who clearly wins in that case. However, some of those summer internships in banks and large companies can pay several thousands of dollars for the summer, and perhaps tax is due.</p>

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<p>I don’t know how that 3600 income thing works because I made more then that each year even when I was a kid at age 14,15, etc and was still considered a dependent.</p>

<p>Oldfort, are you going to have the marriage chat? Every time I see one of my older relative they give me the marriage and babies chat and every time it makes me cringe. I wish they’d just let me live my life my way! :)</p>

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<p>fendergirl-
it’s a combination of things (not just the $3650 income thing) that determines whether you can be a dependent of someone else.
Qualifying CHILD, less than 24 yrs, can earn up to $5700 ish.
Qualifying RELATIVE, can be more than 24 yrs old, but then can only earn up to $3650ish.
Either way, the one claiming the dependent must provide > than 1/2 support for the student being claimed.</p>

<p>I’m NOT a tax expert, just learned this stuff through turbotax.</p>

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<p>Most young people can actually “freefile” their taxes. I believe that option is still available…my kids have used it for the last several years. In fact, I believe it’s not just for “young filers” but for anyone with an income under a certain amount (maybe $50K). Unless something has changed, when you choose to “freefile” you get to choose your tax prep software…my kids used Turbotax but I believe there are other choices as well.</p>

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<p>There are many factors involved in meeting the IRS definition of dependent. Neither of my kids were students in 2010, which would have made a difference, even though they are over 18. I have no problem with them getting their tax refunds, I just wish I had realized that I wasn’t going to get to claim them so I could have adjusted my withholding last year. It’s my fault. I never really read the rules (TurboTax determined it for me) so I thought since I was providing room, board, auto insurance, cell phone, toilet paper, etc, that I could continue to claim them. I should have educated myself.</p>

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<p>Just think of it as your contribution to helping reduce our swelling federal deficit. Thank you! :wink: It’s hard to keep up with all these complicated tax changes, especially as our kids relationships with us change and they get older.</p>

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<p>Yes, as thumper says above, the “freefile” option does still exist through the irs site for filers with income below a certain level. You can browse/search through MANY companies’ software choices on the irs site. There is a tool to help you choose one best for your particular situation and then you can link to that site.</p>

<p>I always purchase turbotax in a box from Costco when they run their $10 off coupon.
I am so cheap! The boxed version allows up to 5 federal returns to be prepared. So, I can use it for me and DH, DS and DD. The first state is included in box price but additional cost quite significant $$$ to prepare and then efile.</p>

<p>So, we’ve used the irs frefile sites for DS to prepare and file various STATE returns for free or very little money. Two years ago he needed NJ and NY. This year it was NJ and CT. His returns are quite annoying for the (relatively) small income that they contain!</p>

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<p>^Re multiple state tax returns, that is a problem for students who make enough money to file returns and are out of their home state. Umpteen years ago, I had to file in Georgia because I was a student there, but my home was up north. The money that triggered the filing was in my home state, but I had also worked when I was in school in Georgia. Back in the moldy oldie days it was the first Georgia filing for my yankee tax preparer. Think how much easier it is with turbo tax et al now.</p>