bugs Posted February 15, 2016 Share Posted February 15, 2016 Just a vent... My daughter took a gap year after graduating in Jun 2014, and started back at school this past September. I "completed" our taxes on Turbo Tax as I have done every year for many moons. Holy moly! Our owed taxes shot up because she isn't considered a dependent in 2015 - she was in school for less than 5 months and she made over $4000 (yah- but not enough to live independently). I guess this is kind of a PSA. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pegasus Posted February 15, 2016 Share Posted February 15, 2016 (edited) If you provided more than half of DDs financial support and she attended school full-time during at least 5 calendar months, you can probably claim her as a dependent. I just ran this scenario here and recommend you do the same: https://www.irs.gov/uac/Who-Can-I-Claim-as-a-Dependent%3F Edited to add: Oops. I just noticed that you said "less than 5 months." Yikes. That is disappointing. Too bad the school didn't start up in August! Edited February 15, 2016 by Pegasus 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MomsintheGarden Posted February 16, 2016 Share Posted February 16, 2016 Yikes! I am sorry you got a nasty surprise. :( Thanks for warning others about this down side of taking a gap year. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Okra Posted February 16, 2016 Share Posted February 16, 2016 That so much for letting people know! I didn't know about that before and now we can make certain it doesn't happen to us. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plansrme Posted February 16, 2016 Share Posted February 16, 2016 One "gotcha" is that the dependent's age is determined as of the last day of the year, so an 18 yo who turns 19 on December 31 is then subject to the income (under $4,000) or five-months-of-school requirement. It really isn't fair. Good reminder, OP. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vonfirmath Posted February 16, 2016 Share Posted February 16, 2016 One "gotcha" is that the dependent's age is determined as of the last day of the year, so an 18 yo who turns 19 on December 31 is then subject to the income (under $4,000) or five-months-of-school requirement. It really isn't fair. Good reminder, OP. OTOH, the same kid gave her parents a tax break the very next April after they were born -- whereas the child nor born until Jan 2nd didn't give their parents a break until two Aprils later -- you get the same number of total years. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pen Posted February 16, 2016 Share Posted February 16, 2016 To clarify this, if she'd been in school 5 months and a day, the income would not have mattered? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pegasus Posted February 16, 2016 Share Posted February 16, 2016 To clarify this, if she'd been in school 5 months and a day, the income would not have mattered? It doesn't have to be 5 months and a day, exactly. It is a full-time student (as defined by the school, typically about 12 college credit hours) during 5 calendar months (not full months, so starting in mid-Aug and ending in mid-Dec is ok). The parent would also have to provide "more than half" of the student's support. This is pretty easy if the student only made a few thousand dollars and they lived with you. If the student is bringing in tens of thousands, it would be more difficult to document! Play around with the link provided above. It leads you through all the questions/qualifications in order to claim someone your dependent. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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