[josch]

My daughter served 3 internships this year. 1 included housing. When she received
Her W-2's, the company that provided housing included over an additional $9000 on her W-2 for her housing, doubling the amount of her W-2 income from that company. On the stub, it was referred to as a NCA loan? She does remember having any discussions with the HR and all the interns about this. How do we do her taxes? Previous years, we claimed her in college as our dependent, she made around six thousand each year. This year she made $20k in wages and $9000 in housing. We still paid her college tuition, her health insurance, helped with room and board for nine months of 12, will we still be able to claim her for 2008? Thanks for any insight!

[MukatA]

It appears that you will not be able to claim her. You can claim her only if you provided more than half of her support? Your U.S. Tax Return: Requirements for claiming a dependent

$9000 received by her for housing is also her income. Any housing provided by employer is not tax free.

[The Texas Tax Expert]

In this case, it is not a requirement that the parent has to provide more than half her support, it is that she must not provide more than half of her own support. I'm assuming that she is a student.

If she meets the other conditions and does not provide more than half her own support, she is still your dependent child.

[AtlantaTaxExpert]

I agree with TTE on this one.

The college tuition paid is probably the deciding factor as to whether your daughter provided more than half of her support. Most colleges charge well over $20K per year for tuition. That, plus room, board and health insurance would more than qualify your support as sufficient to claim her as a dependent in spite of her 29K in taxable income.