Question

Who is a dependent?

Jeannie (age 20 SS#512-36-3690) is an assistant manager of a clothing store located in Rockville NY. Her annual salary is $19,000 per year. She lives at home and put her entire paycheck into a savings account.

Jason (age 23 SS number 428-36-3324) is a full time student at Columbia. His parents pay tuition, all of his expenses and provide him with a car. In 2017 he did not work. Instead he went to school full time. For 2017 John had $700 of interest income. John is finishing up his 4^th year of college. His parents paid $30000 in tuition. You will need to determine the best way to handle the tuition. Columbia ID is 51-4872876

Jackson (age 16 SS# 122-22-9988) works at ABC coffee and makes $6000 for the year. He lives at home.

Paul (age 9 SS # 105-55-4222) goes to ABC Daycare at 605 3^rd Ave in Babylon NY 11565. ID number of daycare is 11-5575566. The Bart’s pay $3500 per year for daycare

Finally the Bart’s provide over half of the support for James’s mom Anne Pierce. (age 78 SS# 568-72-6051). Anne does not live with James and Jane . Anne’s only source of income is $8900 of Social Security. James’s dad died in 2012.

Answer 1

A dependent is a person other than taxpayer and spouse, whom taxpayer can claim as dependent and take the dependent exemption. A dependent can be a "qualifying child" or "qualifying relative"

Jeannie- As she is 20 years old and work full time, she does not met the age test for qualifying child, thus she cannot be claimed as dependent.

To meet Age test, the child must be:

1. under the age of 19 at the end of the year,

2. Full time student under age 24 at the end of the year

3. permanently or totally disabled at any time during the year.

Jason - As Jason is full time student and under age 24, he can be claimed as dependent-qualifying child

Jackson - As Jackson is under age 19 at the end of the year, but he works and make $6000, if he provide for more than half of his own support, he cannot be claimed as dependent, otherwise if he cannot provide for half of his own support, he can be claimed as dependent qualifying child by his parents.

Paul - He can be claimed as dependent-qualifying child.

Anne - She can be claimed as dependent-qualifying relative as Bart provide more than half of the support