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I always consider myself to be proactive as far as my taxes. As a general rule, we always break even or have to pay a small amount for federal taxes every year. But this year, I made a big goof: my daughter turned 17 which means we will not be able to take the child tax credit for her. That deduction was already phasing out for us anyway because we are over the income limit but last year we were able to get at least part of it for our 2 kids. This year, because we are unable to use her plus we made more money, we will not be able to take any part of that. Arrrgh! This oversight is going to cost us a couple of thousand dollars.
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asmom,
Sorry about your bad news.
I am just starting to root around for all our paperwork, it sounds like you are way ahead of the game.
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As long as you provide for at least 50% of your daughter's needs, you can still claim her as a dependent. Many families still claim children who are a few years into college, but are not yet totally self-sufficient. My parents claimed me on their taxes until I was 19. As I understand it, dependency (for tax purposes) isn't so much about age, but rather provided care/resources. It's the same case for adults who have their elderly parents live with them. If they provide for the majority of their needs/expenses, the child can claim the parent as a dependent come tax time.
Also keep in mind that if you don't claim your daughter (assuming she has a job of some sort), she will have to file taxes herself.Comment
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kork13,Originally posted by kork13 View Post
I'm sure the OP will be around shortly to clarify, but the way I read it, I believe the OP is talking about an additional tax credit which is in addition to claiming a child as a dependent--the child tax credit: Link to Can You Claim the Child Tax Credit?Comment
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That stinks. Hope you find something else that you overlooked to make up for it.Comment
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That's exactly right. $1000 per kid, starts to phase out at $115,000 AGI. Last year we were able to get $1700 of that, this year, nothing. Ack!Originally posted by Like2Plan View PostComment
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if child is going to college, look at the college tax credits... hope or lifetime learning creditsComment
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Unfortunately these also start to phase out with income. Everything starts to phase out at these levels...it is a pretty harsh cutoff and doesn't even count the cost of living relative to the area you are in. People that vote seem happy enough with it though (I guess most of them are getting the freebies).Originally posted by jIM_Ohio View PostComment
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The child tax credit is one that hits a lot of people unexpectedly. We try to warn them the year before (I work at a tax office). It is just nuts, as soon as they turn 17 you lose that $1,000 credit. Of course they are still in high school at that age. And many people think you are saying they can't claim them on their return....sigh!
It was also a similar situation with that rebate, that extra money they sent back with Bush. If the child was over 18 they didn't qualify, even though they were your dependent if still in college. There are a LOT of college students that they didn't have to pay money out for, because most are still dependents on their parents returns, and the only way they could qualify on their own was if they claimed themselves.
At least you have until April 15th!Comment
I really should read more carefully.
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