Can I Claim my 24 Year Old Full Time Student on My Tax Return?

by Penny
(Petaluma, CA)

My daughter is 24 and a full time college student in the Masters Program at Sac State. She will be a full time student for about 3 more years. My question...can she still be claimed on taxes for either my ex-husband or myself if she is a full time student? Or because she is 24...she will have to be on her own?

Thank you very much!

In order to claim a dependency exemption for your daughter she would need to meet all of the qualifications. Unfortunately, she would not meet the age test which states that she must be a full-time student under the age 24 at the end of the year.

You can, however, claim a qualifying relative expemption for her if she made under $3,400 in gross income and you can prove that you paid more than half of her total support for the year.

Thank you for your question. Please let me know if there is anything else I can help you with.

Can i Claim

by Keith s
(baltimore md)

Can i claim my 28 year old son he lives with me unemployed i give 100% support for all his needs?

Hello Keith,

Thank you for your question.

Yes, you should be able to claim your son as a qualifying relative on your tax return.

Claiming Money From Odd Jobs

It has been a rough year for my boyfriend and I. He collected unemployment for the first half of the year but it wasn't very much. He did put in applications every week so I did odd jobs off Craigslist and such cleaning houses etc. etc.

I was paid in cash and not thinking of tax time I didn't keep records. I do know how much I made. How do I claim that on my taxes? I made about 3600 over a 5 month period and worked at Walmart for a month as Temp holiday. My boyfriend got a job it lasted 2 months lost it got a Temp job for 2 weeks so he did the same thing but since he can do construction he made quite a bit more about 6700 and kept receipts for tools how do we claim this income without getting ourselves or anyone else in trouble?

Hello,

Thank you for your question.

Typically, money earned from odd jobs would be reported as self employment income on schedule C. The great thing about being self employed is that you do legitimately get to deduct any expenses incurred in doing business such as tools, supplies, etc.. The not so great thing about being self employed is that you have to pay for your own social security and medicare tax. However, the amount owed would be entirely dependent upon what your net income is after expenses. It sounds like you wouldn't have much of a liability if any. If you do end up owing, you can always file an installment agreement request form and make monthly payments as necessary.

Claiming my 21 year old daughter's tuition and not claiming her as a dependent.

My question is this. My wife and I paid tuition for my 21 year old daughter spring semester 2009 while she lived at home. She already filed, and I want to use the tuition cost on my tax return and not claim her as a dependent. Is this legal and possible?

Hello,

Thank you for your question.

I'm sorry, but you can only deduct eduction expenses if you are claiming your daughter as a dependent.