[USER]

Hello. I hope someone or many can help me out. So my son is a freshman college and will turn 18 in November. I own a restaurant S-Corp (if that helps) and I employ him.

So far he’s made $8,200 of earned income, he received a scholarship for $5k and he was paid $1722 for his government position in college. Totaling $$14922 he has a Roth IRA too.

I make around 120k and have been paying for college I would like all the deductions possible, so I would like to be able to claim him as my dependent I wasn’t able to claim him for my 2023 because he made $50 or $100 over IRS guidelines.

I also found out Transferring money to his Roth IRA doesn’t help it has to be a Traditional IRA.

So I guess my question would be:
Who does it benefit more? Me to claim him if possible? Or him doing his own taxes?

If it’s beneficial for him what are the credits we should be applying for etc.

I’ve reached out to my accountant already to figure out a plan and waiting for him to respond.

BUT I would really appreciate to hear from you too and your experiences and expertise.

Thank you. His my first college kid so I’m trying to figure this out for him and us

[Elizabeth]

You can claim him as a dependent (assuming he meets the criteria) AND he can file his own taxes and check the box that someone can claim him as a dependent.

It is not an either or situation.

There are no deductions for education expenses, but there are some possible tax credits like the American Opportunity Tax Credit.

There are income limits for this. Depending on your filing status, you may or may not be over the limit.

[Cecile]

Can you have a tax professional review your 2023 income tax returns? I thought that if you were providing more than half of the support for him then you can claim him as a dependent.

He needs to file an income tax return and note that he is a dependent on another person’s income tax return.

[Elizabeth]

If he meets the criteria as a “Qualifying Child”, then there was no Income limit for him, so that part seems strange. The Income Test only comes into play for a “Qualifying Relative”.

Note: Being away for college still typically counts as “living with you”.

[Author]

Posts