My son is a first year. He is eligible for a tuition waiver for about 85% of his tuition through my ex-husband’s employment at a college in the same coalition. In order to be eligible for the tuition waiver, my ex must claim our son as a dependent on his taxes. From what I can figure out, in order for a full-time college student to be claimed as a dependent, they must reside with the claiming parent more than 50% of the time. I filed the FAFSA for his first year because he lived with me more than 50% of the time. I want to continue filing FAFSA because the EFC will be much lower. My son is eligible for the Pell grant and other institutional grants that enable us to afford his school. But can I file FAFSA if my ex claims him on his taxes or must my ex file FAFSA? And is residing more than 50% with a parent indeed the criteria for claiming a college student?
FAFSA and IRS dependency rules are two completely different animals. Your H can claim him on taxes (if he can per IRS rules), and you are his FAFSA parent if he lived with you at least 51% in the past 12 months.
The IRS rules are what I can’t figure out - if the rules require our son to live with my ex 51% in order to be his dependent, then I can’t also have our son live with me for 51% for FAFSA.
He doesn’t have to live with your ex more than 50% of the time to be claimed on his taxes. That is something that divorced couples often take turns on every year as part of the court order. My ex claimed our son every other year even though he only lived with him maybe 10% of the time, if that.
It is likely his father can claim him on taxes. He will likely need a form from you allowing him to take son if the court gave you the deduction. Parents switch these things back and forth all the time to make it beneficial to the parents.
For FAFSA purposes, your son would use you as the custodial parent on the form…because he resides with you greater than 50% of the time.
For IRS purposes, your former husband can absolutely declare your son as a dependent on his taxes and often this does happen with divorced parents. I’m assuming the former husband provides some support to this kid??
@BelknapPoint does this other parent really need some form completed by the mom so that the dad can declare the kid on his taxes? I’ve never heard of that before.
@thumper1 It’s form 8332. My ex had to submit this every year when he claimed our son when he wasn’t the custodial parent. I filled out one with every year on it that he was entitled to claim him and he just used it over and over.
Form 8332
It is not always required but if there is any question about who can claim, that’s the form to use.
Thank you! So for the OP…just do this form…and let your former spouse declare the student. It sounds like a terrific tuition benefit!!
Thanks for all the responses! Yes, we’ve used Form 8332 in the past when we’ve alternated years claiming him. And I would love it if we can continue to do this. But what I wonder is, are we still able to do that now that he’s 18? My ex plans to make an appointment with an accountant and ask, but I thought I’d tap all brains here too. Any other insights are very welcome!
Yes you can do this now that he is 18.
A parent can take a college student who is under 24 and whom they support as a tax dependent. The parent must take the student as a dependent to get the AOTC (tuition tax credit) so if your ex takes your son as a dependent, he (ex) will get the tax credit. Since the new tax law the over 17 dependent is only worth $500 (under 17 get the $2000 child credit)
Giving up the up-to $2500 AOTC and the $500 dependent credit to get 75% of college paid for by your ex’s employer, but you need to run the numbers considering all thing like other school’s merit, 529 plan, income of each parent.
As you already know, having used the Form 8332 with your ex, you give up certain tax benefits the year you are not claiming him as a dependent. As mentioned above, there are also other tax credits in the picture for having a kid in college. You need to have a good idea what the differential is and how to handle that with your ex.
Also, some of those tax credits are income based so if the one claiming the kid makes more than the limit, it’s not usable.
Figure out what the savings are with your ex’s savings plan. I’m in NY and tuition is about $8k and sometimes covered under certain circumstances so a free tuition benefit might not be that beneficial. It comes down to what the bottom line numbers are, including loss of tax benefits you will incur and what your ex will get with that 8332 and also how much that tuition benefit is worth
Yes, it’s definitely worthwhile to take the tuition benefit since it’s for an expensive LAC. And as a condition of receiving the tuition benefit, he does need to claim our son. He won’t be over the income limit so he’ll get the tax benefits too.