If you don’t claim a dependent on the income tax return, can you still claim them for other purposes (e.g for financial aid)?
Can you clarify? Do you mean the parents are divorced and just one claims the dependent and you want to know if the other can take a tax credit? Or are you talking about them being a dependent for financial aid purposes? What?
If the student meets the definition of dependent for FA, then yes, you can.
For example, if the non-custodial parent takes the tax deduction but the student actually lives with the custodial parent, the custodial parent fills out the FAFSA. If a student is independent for tax purposes but doesn’t meet any of the exceptions for independent students on FAFSA, the parents fill out the FAFSA (student is dependent for FAFSA)
Yes. You need to follow the specific definitions listed in the FAFSA instructions. Many students with divorced parents get claimed for tax purposes based on what was provided in the divorce agreement. FAFSA looks at the real situation - if the divorce agreement provides that Jack is always claimed by dad, and Jill is claimed by mom, but Jack & Jill both live with mom, then for FAFSA purposes, both Jack and Jill are reported as living in mom’s household.
No, this is not for divorced parents. My parents filed a joint tax return, but did not claim my brother (23) as an exemption. My brother works full time and filed as an independent. For financial aid, what do I put for number of dependents? 3 or 4?
3, if your brother receives less than half of support from your parents. See https://fafsa.ed.gov/fotw1516/help/pnumInHousehold.htm
your brother works full time? how much does he earn? It’s doubtful that your parents could show that they contribute to more than half of his expenses.
for instance, if he earns $18k per year, your parents would have to show that they’re paying $18k+ for him alone.
OK, so it sounds like your parents din’t claim your brother as a dependent for income tax purposes on their 2014 Form 1040 but you included him as a member of the household on the FAFSA.
So as stated above, how much does your brother earn and how much support did your parents provide? Does he live at home? Who pays for his health insurance? Does he have his own car? Etc, etc.
Plus…the tax experts will tell me if I’m wrong…but if your brother claimed himself, I don’t believe anyone else can claim him too.
Right, for federal income tax purposes if the brother claimed his own exemption, then his parents could not claim his as their dependent on their Form 1040.