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Return to FAA/Educators
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IRS Dependency Tests
The IRS requirements for a person to be counted as a dependent on a
taxpayer's return and the notion of a dependent for financial aid
purposes are not the same. The term as used by the IRS is defined in
Title 26, Subtitle A, Chapter 1, Subchapter B, Part V, Section 152 of
the Internal Revenue Code. (See also
IRS Publication 501.)
The term as used by the US Department of
Education is defined in section 480 of the Higher Education Act of
1965 (20 USC 1087vv).
Note that the US Department of Education's treatment of support
generally follows that of the IRS, with a few exceptions:
- If a parent is receiving support from government assistance
programs for dependent children, those benefits are considered as part
of the parent's support to the child.
Examples include Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF), as
well as Social Security and AFDC payments.
Likewise for support received from someone other than the student's
parents or spouse.
- The parent's children do not need to live with him or her to be
counted as members of his/her household, so long as they received or
will receive more than half of their support from him/her.
- Whether a divorced or separated parent claims a child as a
dependent on the tax return is irrelevant when deciding whose
household the child belongs to for financial aid purposes.
- The IRS does not require the parent to provide more than half
support for a qualifying child, only that the child not have provided
more than half his/her own support. (For qualifying relatives, the 50%
support test still applies.)
Another difference is the IRS does not count scholarships received
by a son, daughter, stepson or stepdaughter of the taxpayer in
determining whether the support test is satisfied, so long as the
child is a full-time student.
Independent Student
The term Independent Student is defined in section 480(d) of
the Higher Education Act:
INDEPENDENT STUDENT. - The term 'independent’, when
used with respect to a student, means any individual who -
- is 24 years of age or older by December 31 of the award
year;
- is an orphan or ward of the court or was a ward of the
court until the individual reached the age of 18;
- is a veteran of the Armed Forces of the United States
- is a graduate or professional student;
- is a married individual;
- has legal dependents other than a spouse; or
- is a student for whom a financial aid administrator
makes a documented determination of independence by reason
of other unusual circumstances.
Note how item 6 defines an independent student in terms of the IRS
definition.
Dependent Student
The term Dependent Student is defined in section 480(k) of
the Higher Education Act:
DEPENDENTS. -
- Except as otherwise provided, the term
'dependent of the parent’ means the student, dependent children
of the student’s parents, including those children who are deemed
to be dependent students when applying for aid under this title,
and other persons who live with and receive more than one-half of
their support from the parent and will continue to receive more
than half of their support from the parent during the award year.
- Except as otherwise provided, the term 'dependent of the
student’ means the student’s dependent children and other persons
(except the student’s spouse) who live with and receive more than
one-half of their support from the student and will continue to receive
more than half of their support from the student during the
award year.
Note how items 1 and 2 define a dependent student in terms of the IRS
definition.
IRS Definition of Dependent
The IRS definition of a dependent requires that all five of the
following dependency tests be met:
- Member of Household or Relationship Test. At least one of the
following must be true:
- The dependent lived with the taxpayer for the entire
year as a member of the taxpayer's household, except
for temporary absences. Temporary absences include
attending school, taking vacations, business trips,
military service, and hospital stays. (If the person is
placed in a nursing home for an indefinite period of
time to receive constant medical care, the absence is
considered temporary.)
The relationship between the taxpayer and the dependent
must not violate local laws (e.g., zoning restrictions
on the number of unrelated persons living together).
- The dependent is related to the taxpayer in one of the
following ways: child, parent, brother/sister, stepparent,
stepchild, stepbrother/stepsister, half brother/half sister,
grandparent, grandchild, son-in-law/daughter-in-law,
mother-in-law/father-in-law, brother-in-law/sister-in-law.
Also, if related by blood, relatives can include uncle/aunt
and niece/nephew. Cousins do NOT meet the relationship test.
Relationships established by marriage are not ended by death
or divorce. Relatives do not have to be members of the taxpayer's
household for the entire year. (There are special rules for
children born during the year, adopted children, and foster
children.)
- Citizen or Resident Test. The dependent must be, for some part of
the year, a US citizen or resident, or a resident of Canada or Mexico.
Foreign students who stay with you as part of an international
education exchange program generally do not qualify as dependents.
- Joint Return Test. The dependent must be unmarried,
married but not filing a joint return, or married filing a
joint return only to claim
a refund of withheld tax (neither the dependent nor spouse may claim
personal exemptions on the joint return).
- Gross Income Test. The gross taxable income of the
dependent (all taxable income
including money, property and services, unemployment compensation and
certain scholarships, but not welfare benefits and not nontaxable
Social Security benefits) may not exceed the exemption amount. In 2004
the exemption amount was $3,100. This test does not apply if the
dependent is a child of the taxpayer and either under age 19 at
the end of the year, or a full-time student under age 24 at the
end of the year.
- Support Test. The taxpayer must have provided more than half of the
dependent's total support for the entire year. (Starting in
2005, the 50% support test only applies to qualifying
relatives. For qualifying children, it is sufficient that the
child not have provided more than half his/her own support.)
Support includes
food, clothing, shelter, education, medical and dental care, recreation,
and transportation; as well as welfare, food stamps, and housing provided
by the state. You must compare the dollar value of the support provided
by the taxpayer with the total support the dependent received from all
sources. (Note: There are special rules for dependents who receive support
from multiple sources and for children of divorced or separated parents.)
The support test considers all income, not just taxable income.
See the Support Test Form
for a form you can use to determine whether you provided more
than half the dependent's total support for the entire year.
In addition, a taxpayer cannot claim a person as a dependent if the
person can be claimed as a dependent on another taxpayer's return.
A dependent cannot claim his or her personal exemption if another
taxpayer is entitled to do so.
Special circumstances:
- Kidnapped children. If a child has been presumed by law
enforcement authorities to have been kidnapped by someone who is
not a member of your family or the child's family, and the child
qualified as your dependent for part of the year before the
kidnapping, you may claim the child as a dependent.
- Newborn children. If the child is born alive (even if the child
lived only for a moment) and the rest of the dependency tests
are met, the child may be claimed as a dependent. Stillborn
children, however, may not be claimed as a dependent. If the
child would have been a member of your household during the year
except for a required hospital stay following birth, the child
counts as a dependent.
- Adopted children. A legally adopted child is considered your child.
This is the case even if the adoption is not yet final, so
long as the child was placed with you for legal adoption by
an authorized placement agency and the child was a member of
your household. If the child was not placed with you by an
authorized placement agency, the adopted child will only count
as a dependent if he or she was a member of your household for
the entire tax year.
- Foster children. A foster child must live with you as a member of
your household for the entire year to qualify as a dependent. A
foster child is one who is in your care that you care for as
your own child. It does not matter how the child became a member
of the household.
- Foster parent. A foster parent does not count as a dependent.
- Cousins. A cousin can only count as a dependent if he or she
lives with your as a member of your household for the entire year.
A cousin is defined as a descendent of a brother or sister of
your father or mother.
- Death of dependent. If the dependent died during the year and
otherwise met the dependency tests, you may claim the dependent.
- Housekeepers, maids, servants, and other household employees may
not be claimed as dependents.
- Joint returns. If you file a joint return, the dependent can be
related to either spouse. If you file separate returns, the
dependent must be either be related to you by the definitions
give above or a member of your household who lived with you for
the entire tax year.
Support Test Notes:
- Child wages. Any support that is paid for by the child using the
child's own wages cannot be included in your contribution to the
child's support, even if you paid the wages.
- Funds spent for support. Only funds actually spent for support of
the dependent by the parent count as support.
- Year of support. The year the support is provided is the year in
which you paid for the support, even if you paid for it using
borrowed money. If you are a fiscal year filer, the year is the
calendar year in which your fiscal year begins.
- Payee on checks. Funds received by check are proportionately
divided among all payees listed on the check. For example, if a
Social Security benefit check payable to husband and wife, half
is considered to be for the support of each spouse.
- Lump sum payments amortized. If you make a lump sum payment to
a nursing home to care for your relative for the rest of his or
her life, and the payment is based on your relative's life
expectancy, the amount of support you provide is the lump sum
payment divided by the relative's life expectancy.
- Homeowners with mortgages. Do not report the mortgage
payments. Instead, report the fair rental value of the
lodging. This is the amount an unrelated stranger would be willing
to pay in rent for the lodging. To identify the fair rental
value of the property, look in the local real estate listings to
see what rent is charged for houses with a similar number of
bedrooms and baths in the same neighborhood. A good
reasonableness test is that the gross annual rent will be around 10%
of the fair market value for the property. Fair rental value
is a measure of the value of the support you are providing to the
dependent.
- Living rent free. If you live rent free in the dependent's home,
you must reduce the amount you provide for support by the fair
rental value of the lodging he or she provides you.
- Health insurance. Health insurance premiums you pay are included
in the support you provide. Health insurance benefits received
are not part of support.
- Tuition payments and allowances received under the GI Bill are
included in total support.
- Federal, state, and local income taxes are not included in total
support when paid by persons from their own income. Similarly
for Social Security and Medicare taxes.
- Life insurance premiums are not included in support.
- Funeral expenses are not included in support.
- Scholarships received by your child are not included in support if
your child is a full-time student.
- Multiple Support Agreements.
If nobody provides more than half the support for a person, but
together two or more people provide more than half the support
for a person, you may form an agreement as to which one of you
may count the person as your dependent. Only one of you may
count the person as your dependent, and you must provide at
least 10% of the support for that person. The others must sign a
statement agreeing to not count that person as a dependent for
that year. You must submit IRS Form 2120 Multiple Support
Declaration.
- Divorced or separated parents. If the child's parents are divorced
or separated, one or both parents provide more than half the
child's total support, and one or both parents have custody of
the child for more than half the calendar year, special rules
apply. The parent who has custody of the child for the greater
part of the year is generally treated as the parent who provides
more than half of the child's support. The main exception is
when there is a written agreement as to which parent may claim
the exemption. Form 8332 may be used to make the written
declaration releasing the exemption to the other parent.
- Child support. Child support payments received from the
noncustodial parent are considered to be used for support of the
child, even if they are actually spent on things other than support.
Child support owed but paid in a later year does not count as support
for either year. Support provided by a third party for a
divorced or separated parent is not included as support provided
by that parent, unless that parent remarried and the support is
provided by the parent's spouse.
Note that a student (and/or spouse) who provides more than half the
support for a dependent child but who does not provide more than half
the student's own support is considered dependent for student aid purposes.
Note also that the total cost of support from all sources for an
individual for student aid purposes should generally be at least the
adjustment per household member used in the income
protection allowance, which for 2005-2006 was $3,320. It is not
reasonable to expect that a person could live on less than this
amount.
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