<p>I am filling out the tax form and I wondered about this question (found on taxact) for my 21 yr old:</p>
<p>
[quote]
Dependent - Number of Months
Please enter the number of months ##### lived with you during 2010.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>For a typical college student who lives on campus, this answer is < 6, does this mean we don't get to claim a FT college student as a dependent even tho the cost of a child at this stage of his or her life is the greatest it has even been ?</p>
<p>EDIT:</p>
<p>I have my answer. FT students are allowed to live gt 6 mos away from you.</p>
<p>Also: living on campus is considered living with you.</p>
<p>I have always interpreted that statement to mean “living with you” as “having your address as their permanent residence.”</p>
<p>Even though our daughter lives in a dorm 750 miles away 9 months out of the year, her permanent address remains our house, as evidenced by her driver’s license and voter registration.</p>
<p>I think there’s an exception if the parents are divorced, but that’s probably not applicable here.</p>
<p>This article answers all the questions</p>
<p>[Can</a> You Claim Your College Student as a Dependent for Federal Income Tax Purposes? - Associated Content from Yahoo! - associatedcontent.com](<a href=“http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/19802/can_you_claim_your_college_student.html?cat=3]Can”>http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/19802/can_you_claim_your_college_student.html?cat=3)</p>
<p>If you have been claiming a child as your dependent for U.S. federal income tax purposes every year, but this year the child becomes a college student, you may still be able to claim an exemption for that child. But you
will need to take various different factors into consideration in making this determination.</p>
<p>General Rules</p>
<p>Before determining whether your college student can be claimed as your dependent, you must first see if you meet some general tests in order to be able to claim an exemption for a dependent.</p>
<p>• If you yourself can be claimed as a dependent on someone else’s tax return, you cannot claim any dependents on your own tax return. And, if you are married filing a joint return and your spouse can be claimed as a dependent on someone else’s tax return you cannot claim any dependents on your joint return either.</p>
<p>• If your dependent is married and files a joint return, you cannot claim the dependent on your tax return, unless your dependent is filing a joint return only to claim a tax refund and there would be no tax liability for either your dependent or his or her spouse if they filed separate returns.</p>
<p>• Your dependent must have been a U.S. citizen, U.S. resident, U.S. national, or a resident of Canada or Mexico for some part of the tax year. You cannot claim an exemption for a dependent who is a nonresident alien for the entire year.</p>
<p>If the above tests are met, you must then determine if the child qualifies as your dependent under the “qualifying child” or “qualifying relative” criteria.</p>
<p>Qualifying Child</p>
<p>Normally you can claim an exemption on your U.S. federal income tax return for a “qualifying child”. To be your qualifying child, five tests must be met:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>The child must be your son or daughter, stepchild, or eligible foster child. Other relationships that would qualify are if the child is your brother or sister, half brother or half sister, stepbrother or stepsister, or any of their descendants (your grandchildren or great grandchildren, for example). </p></li>
<li><p>The child must be under age 19 at the end of the year, or under age 24 if the child is a full-time student. So, your college student could meet this qualification. A child who is permanently and totally disabled is
not subject to any age limit.</p></li>
<li><p>The child must have lived with you for more than half the year, except for temporary absences. Education qualifies as a temporary absence, so if your dependent is away at college during more than half the year, he or she could still qualify under this test.</p></li>
<li><p>The child must not have provided more than half of his or her own support for the year. Scholarships received by a full-time student are not taken into consideration as support provided by the student, so this would not disqualify the child as your dependent under the support test. But proceeds from a student loan would count as support provided by the student, if the loan is taken out in the student’s name. If the parents take out a Federal PLUS loan, for example, to pay college expenses, the proceeds from the loan are considered support provided by the parents.</p></li>
<li><p>If the child meets the tests as a qualifying child for more than one person, you must be the person entitled to claim the child as a dependent. This could be the case of a child of divorced or separated parents, or when there is a multiple support agreement</p></li>
</ol>
<p>thanks, all, for the input. I am re-reviewing my taxes and I came upon this question again.</p>