Jump to content
ATX Community

Dependent child and American Opportunity Credit


Terry O

Recommended Posts

I know I know the answer - - credit follows the dependency.

 

Client earns $200,000 + ,a nd has 2 kids in college. One is in her 3rd year, and earns $6000 with tuition and fees of $6000. The second child is a Freshman - --earned $1500 and tuition is $28,000.

 

The parents do NOT qualify for ANY credit or tuition deduction.

 

Am I correct in assuming they can elect to NOT claim Child #1 and let her get a small portion of the American Credit?

 

Thanks!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Parents can elect not to claim the exemption for any of their children but NO ONE else can claim the exemption if parents qualify for it. Remember that the credit follows the exemption, so if no one claims the exemption, no one can get the credit.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

>>NO ONE else can claim the exemption if parents qualify for it<<

No, sometimes a sibling or grandparent could. If the parents don't claim the child but the child is also a qualifying child to some other family member with higher AGI than both parents, that person could take the exemption and everything.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

You are right Jainen.

Going back to the question at hand, there are 4 people involved: the parents and the two children... if parents decide not to claim the child and they qualify for the exemption, then the child cannot claim his own exemption, correct?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 years later...

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...