Will my son be a dependent and/or have to pay kiddie tax?

My son will graduate from college this month (so he will have been a full time student for 4.8 months in 2016) and be 23 in December. Every year he has to pay a few thousand in kiddie tax. If you figure in college costs, I will pay more than half of his support in 2016; though he will be working full time once he graduates.

As I read it, he has to be a full time student for me to claim him as a dependent. Since it is only 4.8 months, does he qualify for that?

To qualify for paying kiddie tax he has to be a full time student for 5 months. Does the IRS consider 4.8 months to be 5 months; or does he escape kiddie tax?

Thanks much.

Reply to
Frustrated
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The "full time student"rule you are referring to refers to claiming your son as a dependent. The rule is he needs to be a full time student for any part of any five months in the year. Consequently, January 31 to May 1, a prior of only 91 days, would qualify as full time student. If the 4.8 months include any time in each of January - May, he would be a full time student for the definition of dependent.

(I've always suspected that colleges schedule graduations on May 1 or only several days later to insure the parents can still claim the students that year._

Reply to
adjunct

Any part of the month qualifies, so it will count as 5 months.

"Full-time student. You are a full-time student for 2015 if during any part of any 5 calendar months during the year you were enrolled as a full-time student at an eligible educational institution (defined earlier), or took a full-time, on-farm training course given by such an institution or by a state, county, or local government agency."

I suspect that this was done to enable seniors to be potentially considered dependents for the spring semester, since the academic calendar doesn't really line up nicely with the tax calendar. This is often beneficial, although with the kiddie tax and AMT it might not be.

Reply to
taruss

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