09/02/2026
📚Tax tip of the day!!! 💗💗
🚨 “MY CHILD IS IN COLLEGE… CAN I STILL CLAIM THEM?” 🎓👀
Parents, turning 18 and heading off to college does NOT automatically mean your child can no longer be your dependent!
For federal tax purposes, a child can generally meet the qualifying-child age test if they are:
🎓 Under age 24 at the end of the year AND a full-time student, or
👦🏽 Under age 19 if they aren’t a qualifying full-time student.
But AGE isn’t the only requirement! The IRS also has relationship, residency, support and joint-return rules.
💡 FORTUNE TIP: Don’t automatically assume your college student fails the residency test because they live in a dorm!
The IRS recognizes certain temporary absences for education, meaning time away at college may still count toward the residency requirement when the applicable rules are satisfied.
🚨 AND HERE’S A BIG ONE:
For the qualifying-child support test, the rule isn’t simply:
🗣️ “Did Mom or Dad pay more than half?”
The question is generally whether the child provided more than half of their OWN support. Scholarships received by a student are generally not counted as support provided by the child for this particular test.
So before your college student checks:
☑️ “Someone can claim me as a dependent”
—or before YOU claim them—
MAKE SURE THE RULES ACTUALLY FIT YOUR FAMILY’S SITUATION! 💯
And remember: being your dependent does not automatically mean they’re eligible for the Child Tax Credit. The CTC has its own age requirement: the qualifying child must be under 17 at the end of the tax year.
🎯 Different tax benefits = different rules.
At Val’s Tax Shack, we don’t guess—we ask questions, verify the facts and prepare according to the tax law.
💗Education • Honesty • Transparency • Integrity
Official IRS guidance: IRS Dependents Guide
