<p>My tax preparer is suggesting that I not claim my youngest child and instead allow my eldest (who earned over $50,000 last year) to claim that dependency. He says I do not benefit from the additional exemption but because of something called the UDC, any sibling can claim another sibling as a Qualifying Child dependent if they live in the same home. My eldest lived with me last year (2007) but has moved out on his own in 2008. He earns considerably more than myself and my wife, so he will have a significant tax savings from an additional dependent whereas I will not. He did not contribute to the support of his siblings, but he did cover his own expenses while he lived in our home.</p>
<p>My concern is that by removing the youngest child from my tax return, will I endanger the amount of aid that my children receive? I will have three children in college come the fall of 2008 and am very concerned that my aid will be cut by not claiming all three. My accountant actually said that we would get more back overall if I allowed my eldest to claim two siblings. Since I am concerned about giving up one, I am even more concerned about giving up two. </p>
<p>Will this affect my financial aid? Should I listen to my accountant?</p>
<p>I'd suggest running the scenarios with a financial aid calculator to see how the "removal" of siblings impacts the EFC. For example, I did a rough estimate for a 2 parent family, $40K income, 1 kid in college, and here is what I got:</p>
<p>3 in family, EFC= $4107
4 in family, EFC= $2961
5 in family, EFC= $2026</p>
<p>I would note that the break point might also be impacted by Pell grant eligibility -- in the above example, the lower 2 EFCs would be Pell-eligible, but the $4107 EFC might just miss the cutoff.</p>
<p>That being said -- I think you can actually have your son claim the siblings as dependents on his taxes AND also claim them on the FAFSA. Here are the FAFSA rules:</p>
<p>
[quote]
Legal dependents of a dependent student's parents include the student and the parents (except if the parents are separated or divorced or one parent is dead) **Legal dependents of the parents also include the student's siblings and children, if they receive more than half their support from the student's parents.<a href="Any%20siblings%20who%20would%20be%20considered%20themselves%20to%20be%20dependents%20of%20the%20parents%20according%20to%20the%20FAFSA's%20dependency%20criteria%20would%20also%20be%20considered%20legal%20dependents%20of%20the%20parents.">/b</a> Legal dependents of the parents also include other persons who live with and receive more than half their support from the parents and will continue to receive more than half their support for the entire award year.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>The UDP rules do not require that the sibling contribute more than half the support; it only requires that the child claimed as a dependent be "qualifying".<br>
See Tax</a> - Uniform Definition of a Child (UDC) - H&R Block </p>
<p>So it seems like it is perfectly legal for you to "claim" the children you support on the FAFSA, while at the same time your son claims the qualifying sibling on his taxes. </p>
<p>The reason I suggested running the FAFSA calculations is just to be aware of potential impact if I am mistaken about my reading of the provisions. But I think I am right -- you just may have to be prepared to document the situation with the colleges later on.</p>
<p>The FAFSA asks for total in the household AND for the number that will be in college, in addition to the question about exemptions. </p>
<p>My question here....for that "dependent" who earned $50,000 and well in excess of the parents".....how does that satisfy the dependency test for taxes? I thought you had to contribute more than 1/2 of the dependent's support.</p>
<p>Also..I keep saying this....if you have your younger child on your health insurance plan...check to see what happens if you do NOT declare that child as a dependent. On MY plan, the child is no longer eligible to be covered on plan. To continue on my health insurance plan, the child MUST (no exceptions) be a dependent. If that makes a difference to you...it's important to check.</p>
<p>Regarding:
My question here....for that "dependent" who earned $50,000 and well in excess of the parents".....how does that satisfy the dependency test for taxes? I thought you had to contribute more than 1/2 of the dependent's support.</p>
<p>Not sure if I understand your question, so I will answer it two ways:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>There is no dependent who earned $50,000. The child who earned $50,000 is not a dependent.</p></li>
<li><p>The child who earned $50,000 does not need to contribute to the support of a Qualifying Child to claim his siblings under the UDC according to my accountant. I asked him about that and he told me that the support rule are describing is for the definition of a Qualifying Relative under the tax rules since 2005 not the definition of a Qualifying Child. He showed me some documentation from the 1040 instructions that basically say any of certain relatives who live in the house (like a grandmother or an aunt or uncle or sibling) can claim a Qualifying Child as long as the child did not provide more than half of their own support. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>Thank you for the comments about insurance. That is certainly a consideration.</p>
<p>Thumper, read the info on the link I posted to the UDP rules in post #2-- you will see that the TAX rules have changed and there is NOT a requirement that the person in the household claiming the child as a dependent has to be the person who has contributed more than half of the support, although there is a requirement that child who is being claimed as a dependent cannot have contributed more than 50% to their own support. </p>
<p>I think this is a case where the definitions/rules for tax purposes are somewhat different than definitions/rules for FAFSA purposes.</p>
<p>For FAFSA it does not matter whether you claim the student on your tax return or not. We do not claim our son on our tax return but for FAFSA he is still considered a member of household (when we do our daughter's FAFSA) and a dependent (for his own FAFSA purposes).</p>
<p>The criteria for FAFSA is being able to not answer 'YES' to the dependency questions.</p>
<p>
[quote]
66. Number in parents' household. The number of family members reported determines the amount of an allowance that protects a portion of the reported income and this amount is subtracted from your family's income in the EFC calculation. This allowance provides for basic living expenses for the household size you indicate in this question.</p>
<p>The following persons are included in your parents' household size:</p>
<pre><code>* You (the student), even if you do not live with your parents
* Your parents (the ones whose information is reported on the FAFSA)
*** Your parents' other children, if your parents will provide more than half of their support from July 1, 2008 through June 30, 2009 or if the other children could answer "No" to every question in Questions 48-55**
[/quote]
</code></pre>
<p>and</p>
<p>
[quote]
67. Number of college students in parents' household. This question asks about the number of household members who, in 2008-09, are or will be enrolled in a postsecondary school. Count yourself as a college student.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Interesting about the tax thing. My son's girlfriend was talking about claiming her sister on her taxes and I did not think she could - sounds like I was wrong.</p>
<p>Good question. We list 3 exemptions on question 81 (me/daughter/dad) but 4 in number of household (same plus son)- the 3 exemptions on tax return seem irrelevant as far as I can tell. (Oh and we have been verified and it was not an issue).</p>
<p>So how did you calculate the EFC…I have one child less and my EFC is $2,200 more. I was shocked as our income is less, well around the same but actual working income is much much less. Your calculations show only a $1,000 difference between the number of children.
Could the difference be that much. Our income is $35,000 with one child. One thing I am worried about is that I put that our daughter has $3,000 in the bank, stupid as I didnt even have to put the assets in, I could have opted out. Could that have a difference?
I could make an amendment and change it, would that look ‘fishy’</p>
<p>The number of exemptions has to do with AGI and taxes paid. I am guessing that there is a program within the FAFSA processor’s software that checks to see if the taxes paid make sense given the income from work, AGI, taxes paid, and exemptions. This is just a guess … but I know that exemptions are not something that is on the list of items to verify.</p>