OP states that g-ma is supporting her kids (which is why g-ma wants to claim them on her taxes)
For OP, students are not part of her household (because they live with g-mai). Student is not part of parent household
however, they should still be part of the number in college.
Is this going to cause a verification flag?
Does this also mean that OP may not be able to claim the AOTC because her kids are not living with her and wont be dependents on her taxes?
The student has to be a dependent on the taxes to take the AOTC. I think that’s even if one divorced parent is claiming the student but the other parents pays the tuition.
This family should decide whether they want to give the grandmother the tax deduction as a qualifying relative but then the OP loses all possible tax deduction and credits.
For the FAFSA, I think the issue is more clear. Grandparents are not parents for FAFSA purposes unless a formal adoption has occurred (where they’d be parents). Nothing can be changed.
thanks @twoinanddone
you would think that it would be in OP’s best interest to have the kids file the fafsa with her info.
she could would have to help them pay educational expenses anyway. this way she would be able to get the credits
Would she get a tax credit up to $2500 per student or a total of $2500
It’s $2500 per child based on that child’s Qualified Education Expenses, not just a combo of the parent paying $8000 in tuition and then getting the credit for 2 kids (I wish, as I pay more for one child and don’t get the AOTC for the other). For two kids, you fill in two schedules, for three kids, three schedules.
Of course, the OP otherwise has to qualify for the AOTC and have enough tax liability to use the credit as only part of it is ‘refundable’.
Did the OP say if she is providing support for her children? I thought they just lived with grandma because of being closer to the college.
Yep…that’s what she said.
Wonder what happened to the OP?
grandma wants to file kids on her taxes as her dependents. G-ma would need to provide at least half of the kids support to do this
@sybbie719 makes a good point. Unless the grandma is providing greater than 50% of the kid support, she cannot claim them as dependents on her taxes.
I think the family was hoping to qualify for,additional federally funded grant money, or,other need based aid because grandmas income is lower.
But the reality is…for financial aid purposes, grandma can NOT be used on the FAFSA…at all.
I doubt that on her low income she is actually providing more than half the support for,these two kids. But it’s very nice that they can live with her while,attending college.