Age requirement: Your child must be under age 19 or, if a full-time student, under age 24. There is no age limit if your child is permanently and totally disabled.
Claiming your college student as a dependent on your tax return means potential tax savings! On the other hand, it could mean adjustments (including penalties and interest) if you claim them when you shouldn't.
Yes, your parents can claim you as a dependent after the age of 18 indefinitely as long as you meet the qualifying household and financial support requirements.
Income: If your child earned income, she can still be claimed as a dependent as long as her gross income is below the IRS threshold for qualifying children, which is $4400 for 2023. If her income exceeds this amount, she may need to file her own tax return.
Good Reasons
If your income disqualifies you from claiming these credits, your child's income probably doesn't disqualify him or her. Therefore, your child may be able to report payment of education expenses for tax purposes and then claim one of the credits – but only if you don't claim him or her as a dependent.
The child must have lived with you for more than half of the year.2 3. The person's gross income for the year must be less than $4,300.3 Gross income means all income the person received in the form of money, goods, property and services, that isn't exempt from tax.
Once your child reaches the age of 18, they are considered an adult in the eyes of the IRS. However, if they are still a full-time student, you can continue to claim them as a dependent until they turn 24. Once they are no longer a full-time student, you must stop claiming them.
To be a qualifying child for the 2024 tax year, your dependent generally must: Be under 17 at the end of the tax year.
The general rule is that a parent can claim a dependent child's investment income on their own return up to a certain amount —above that, the child needs to file themselves. To claim a child's income on a parent's tax return, the child needs to be considered a qualifying child dependent of the parent.
However, to claim a college student as a dependent on your taxes, the Internal Revenue Service has determined that the qualifying child or qualifying relative must: Be younger than the taxpayer (or spouse if MFJ) and: Be under age 19, Under age 24 and a full-time student for at least five months of the year.
If a child lived with each parent the same amount of time during the year, the IRS allows the parent with the higher adjusted gross income (AGI) to claim the child.
Parents cannot opt out of claiming you on their tax return to get a larger financial aid package. Even if a student files their taxes separately from their parents, they may still be considered dependent on the FAFSA.
The IRS defines a dependent as a qualifying child (under age 19 or under 24 if a full-time student, or any age if permanently and totally disabled) or a qualifying relative. A qualifying dependent cannot provide more than half of their own annual support.
Can they claim an exemption for me as a dependent or qualifying child on their tax return? Share: It's possible, but once you're over age 24, you can no longer be claimed as a qualifying child. The only exception to this is if you're permanently and totally disabled.
Tax credit per child for 2024
The maximum tax credit per qualifying child is $2,000 for children under 17. For the refundable portion of the credit (or the additional child tax credit), you may receive up to $1,700 per qualifying child.
To meet the qualifying child test, your child must be younger than you or your spouse if filing jointly and either younger than 19 years old or be a "student" younger than 24 years old as of the end of the calendar year.
You must stop claiming your college student as a dependent once they are 24 years old or older, or if they start filing their own taxes jointly with a spouse.
The Child Tax Credit's age restrictions often surprise individuals, extending even to the Additional Child Tax Credit. Upon your child reaching the age of 17, eligibility for these credits ends, regardless of continued financial dependency.
A dependent student is assumed to be financially supported by their parents, is usually under the age of 24, unmarried, without dependents, and not a veteran or currently serving in the U.S. military.
Taxpayers can claim a child tax credit (CTC) of up to $2,000 for each child under age 17 who is a citizen.
You can claim a child who works as a dependent if they still meet the requirements to be a qualifying child – including the age, relationship, residency, and support tests.
What's the penalty for filing as head of household while married? There's no tax penalty for filing as head of household while you're married. But you could be subject to a failure-to-pay penalty of any amount that results from using the other filing status.
If you're a dependent on someone else's return
You can be claimed as a dependent and still need to file your own tax return. Your filing requirement depends on your income, marital status and other criteria. Find details on filing requirements for dependents.