@BelknapPoint - I believe that the age rule I cited is sufficient for her not to be a qualifying child (learning the lingo here). But there are other ways as mommdc mentions.
@mommdc - As you point out, just because a child is not a qualifying child to be a dependent, there are other avenues to be a dependent - specifically, as you mention, as a qualifying relative. However, the income test for that is pretty low (The person must have made less than $4,200 in gross income during 2019). I believe my daughter made more than that doing a bunch of little jobs. So, interesting point, but I think she’s still disqualified.
@thumper1 - I believe part of the test is will the parent provide more than half of their support from July 1, 2020 through June 30, 2021. Clearly, in my case, as she moved out in November 2019, that is not the case (of course, there’s always the chance she loses her job and moves back in).
I do appreciate all the responses and questions/comments.
Correct (assuming she was not a full time student for any part of at least five months in 2019). I wasn’t saying that the rule you cite wasn’t enough in and of itself to make your daughter ineligible to be claimed as a qualifying child; I stated that not meeting that rule alone would not necessarily make your daughter ineligible for being claimed as your tax dependent. This is where the possibility of being classified as a Qualifying Relative comes into play.
FAFSA wants household size for the upcoming academic year. Here are the instructions for whom to include:
• yourself, even if you don’t live with your parents,
• your parents,
• your parents’ other children (even if they do not live with your parents) if (a) your parents will provide more than half of their support between July 1, 2020 and June 30, 2021, or
(b) the children could answer “No” to every question in Step Three on page 5 of this form, and
• other people if they now live with your parents, your parents provide more than half of their support and your parents will continue to
provide more than half of their support between July 1, 2020 and June 30, 2021.
Note: Step Three on page 5 is the section that determines a student’s dependency status for financial aid.
Income information is gathered for what is referred to as the base year. All other information is for the academic year in question (in this case, 2020-2021).
@kelsmom - Thanks for the reply. I believe part of the question for you was if someone is a dependent at the time the FAFSA is submitted and then subsequently becomes independent (in my case my older daughter got a job and moved out), would you expect (or is it required) to notify the school of the change?
No, I would not. However, if the student’s school were to subsequently ask for verification of household size, the student would include only the number in the household as of the day the family signs the verification form. But the family is not expected to make updates to household size after the initial FAFSA is submitted.