[sherick11]

Is there any way for someone to claim a deduction for college tuition costs paid for their child if that child can not be included on their return as a dependent? The daughter moved out of her parents' home early last year. She was a full-time student for all of 2007, and her parents paid more than 1/2 her support; however, she is 22, and doesn't meet the dependency test because she did not live with her parents for more than 6 months of the year. Can the daughter include the amount paid for the tuition by her parents on HER return if she files as a non-dependent? The tuition forms came to her parents, with their names on them. Thanks!

[ebaines]

As far as the parents are concerned, the Hope credit and/or lifetime learning credits can only be claimed if the parents pay for a student who is their dependent, so here the parents don't qualify. The daughter can take the credit if she paid the tuition herself, but she didn't, so she doesn't qualify either. In this case the family would have been better off if the parents had gifted the tuition money to the daughter, and then the daughter had paid the tuition herself - at least that way one of them would have gotten the benefit of the credit.