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A client has a 22 year old son in college who is not graduating this year. When I asked when he was likely to graduate I was told it might be a few years ! What is the age limit to carry a supposed full time college student as a dependent or is there one. If not a parent could hold on to junior for an eternity. He has not yet got the BA he is studying for.

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Under the age of 24.

When the son no longer qualifies as a Qualifying Child, then look to the requirements to be a Qualifying Relative.

The IRS has a lot of material regarding dependents and even an Interactive Tax Assistant (ITA) dependency wizard:

https://www.irs.gov/help/ita/whom-may-i-claim-as-a-dependent

https://apps.irs.gov/app/vita/content/globalmedia/4491_dependency_exemptions.pdf

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In reading the regs my understanding is to claim a student as a dependent he must be a full time student. In reading your reply I gather that this terminates the year the student becomes 24. The son earns too much money to be claimed as a dependent other than being a student so what we are looking at going forward is next year when he turns 23 will be the last one he can be claimed as a dependent unless his income should drop below a level at which he could be claimed on that basis ?🤔

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Whether he is a dependent or not isn't based on how much money he makes, it depends on who is providing support.

For example if his parents are supporting him and he invests or saves a chunk of his wages he is still a dependent.

I had a similar situation last month where the student put a large amount of her wages in a savings account with the parents providing support.

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Full time is just a unit number. Has nothing to do with the student actually getting the units for a sheepskin. For instance, one of ours stayed at out local community college to get all the essentially free units he could, even though it was way more than his AS required. So he had 3 full time years at the CC and just two full time for his BS.

Age 25 is a good thing for a student (or married) as it makes them independent for finances. Meaning likely more loans and maybe grants, and easier to get free medical, EBT, utility discounts, etc.

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I was under the impression if they earned an amount greater than the exemption they could not be claimed. A client has a daughter living at home making $19,500 a year and taking courses at the local community college and is a part time student. She takes her classes by computer at home. I dropped her as a dependent for the last two years but she gets the Lifetime Learning Credit. That is not a large amount of money but would likely be greater than 1/2 of her expenses.

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1 hour ago, Christian said:

I was under the impression if they earned an amount greater than the exemption they could not be claimed

Gross income test applies to qualified relative but not to qualified child, so it depends.

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I think he has lost the student exemption by not meeting the requirements for being a full time student. His sole income is some $7,000 or so earned at Walmart in 2023. Since he cannot possibly cover half his support with that I will simply show him as an other dependent.

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5 minutes ago, Christian said:

I think he has lost the student exemption by not meeting the requirements for being a full time student. His sole income is some $7,000 or so earned at Walmart in 2023. Since he cannot possibly cover half his support with that I will simply show him as an other dependent.

I would check the number of units completed and the school's full time units number. Earning 7k, or even zero, could be covering support with loans, grants, etc.

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8 minutes ago, Christian said:

I think he has lost the student exemption by not meeting the requirements for being a full time student. His sole income is some $7,000 or so earned at Walmart in 2023. Since he cannot possibly cover half his support with that I will simply show him as an other dependent.

He is not a qualifying child as he was not under age 19 or a full time student 5 months of the year.

He is also not an other dependent  as his income is above the 4,700 income limit for 2023.

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Bingo Kathy the very number I was looking for. Please advise where you got that $ 4,700 income limit from. That was the number I recalled but was unable to pinpoint where I got it from. Which , of course, means he cannot be shown as a dependent. I am going to ask his parents to get a statement from his school clarifying whether or not he is considered by them to have been a full time student in 2023 as each institution can advise on that. If they certify he was then case closed. 

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13 minutes ago, Christian said:

Please advise where you got that $ 4,700 income limit from

It's in the 1040 instructions, pub 501, the interactive tax assistant on the IRS site, tax research books such as The Tax Book, Master Tax Guide, should easily be found using a search engine such as google, etc ....

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