@Twoin18 — Just as a point of law & legal interpretation. Tax regulations are not always clear and sometimes end up being interpreted in ways that are not strictly aligned with literal interpretations of the words in the regulations. This is what keeps tax lawyers employed, and why the federal government has an entirely separate court branch (“Tax Court”) just to hear and rule upon tax disputes.
And words and phrases used in one set of laws do not necessarily mean the same in another set of laws This is especially true when different jurisdictions are involved (one state vs. another, or state vs. federal) – but can even happen within a single jurisdiction – that is, the words used in the US Tax Code may be defined differently than the same words when used in different statutes.
If your question is, can the language of the qualifying child / temporary absence rules be interpreted in a way that would mean a college student who has taken affirmative steps toward establishing residence in another state can no longer be considered as a dependent of the parents, even though the parents are providing most of that child’s financial support? The answer is – yes, that is a legitimate argument for you to make.
But if your question is, will you get in trouble if you claim the $500 tax credit for your child, despite the fact that you know he has registered to vote in a different state and probably will never return to the family home — then the answer that it would be highly unlikely. I certainly can’t find any tax court cases on record where that issue has come up. And bottom line is that the IRS doesn’t know whether your daughter is registered to vote or where she is registered – they don’t receive voter registration data, and they certainly don’t use that data to validate tax returns.
The issue would only come up if your daughter wanted to file her own return as a non-dependent in order to take advantage of a tax credit for which her dependency status was tied to eligibility – or you were trying to claim the same credit on your own return. That would tend to trigger a query from IRS. So you do need to be careful that your daughter does not submit a return that contradicts yours. Merely listing a different address on her return wouldn’t cause that problem.
Most parents expect or hope that when their kids graduate from college they will get jobs and move out on their own. Our society is pretty much built around that expectation — so despite the language of the “qualifying child” provisions, in most cases where the student is successful in college, the “temporary” absence of the child from the family home turns out to be pretty much permanent. But then again, wherever they do live long-term, it usually isn’t in the same spot as where they lived during their undergrad years … though some kids do end up sticking around for grad school, or finding jobs in their college towns. The issue of voter registration is just one of many factors that can be tied to residence & intent.
You certainly have every right to choose to interpret these provisions strictly-- and refrain from claiming that credit if it makes you uncomfortable. And you can inform your daughter of your choice and reasons, to the extent that will impact her preparation of tax returns. That could impact her options with respect to state income tax. What state is she a resident of for those purposes?
But please understand that many taxpayers legitimately choose to interpret the rules broadly – and again, that’s what keeps the tax courts in business. So when my daughter had told me she was never coming back to California, and registered to vote in New York, and I continued to claim her as a dependent for her first 3 years of college – I believe that my choice was appropriate and lawful – and someone arguing to the contrary in an internet forum won’t change my mind. My daughter said she wasn’t coming back, and I believed her – but I also told her I would not pay to support her in New York once she graduated from college, but that she was free to come home and stay as long as she wanted. And from my point of view – as long as she had no income of her own, no matter what her intent, she was still dependent on me and therefore her absence to attend school was only temporary — because she simply didn’t have the financial means to live somewhere else.
I’d add that when my son went off to college, also in New York, I believe he registered to vote there. But after his second year he returned home to California and announced that he wasn’t returning to school, and spent the next 3 months sleeping on my living room couch by day, and in his own bed & bedroom in my house by night. Then he did find a job and moved out sometime in October. But that’s just another illustration of why the “temporarily away” to attend school is something that really can only be determined in hindsight.
I guess for me, the bottom line wasn’t where the kid wanted to live, but who was paying the rent. As long as it was me, I considered the kid’s physical relocation to be non-permanent.