I have a friend on a social board who is asking about her daughter, aparently her daughter lived with her mom for only 5 months of the year, and turned 18 in may and moved out. Then the daughter filed taxes herself. But mom wants to claim her. Others are telling her that her daughter can't file for herself and that her mom MUST file for her.

I am very confused, I thought once you turn 18 and move out of parents house, you file your own taxes, you are no longer your parents dependants

The daughter files her own taxes for this year, not because she is 18 (mother could have claimed her IF she was 18 all year), but because she lived on her own more than half the year and provided more than half her own support for the year. I assume she did support herself?

However, her mother claims her for last year. This is confusing me because you are talking about her status in 2011, when they probably are talking about taxes for 2010. Since you say 'filed' past tense, the mother is correct to claim her for last year.

From what I can gather, it is for 2010. Not this year. Her daughter turned 18 last may I think. She didn't give a whole lot of information either lol. This is her post.




my daughter lived with me for six months. At 18 she moved out. She filed her own taxes. Can I claim her for anything from last year before she turned 18 in may

But then when someone asked her about the EXACT amount of time her daughter was with her for the year, and she says 5 months because the daughter turned 18 in may and moved out.

So then someone quoted the qualifying child criteria. Which to me it looks like she CANNOT claim her daughter for '10.

But then someone came back and said if she isn't married or filing jointly with someone, then mom can still claim her?

'but then someone came back and said if she isn't married or filing jointly with someone, then mom can still claim her?' That is just nonsense.
And note that when I said her mother could claim her if she was 18 all year, I meant only all year - if her daughter turned 18 on December 31, her daughter can file her own taxes for the entire year.
People are confusing the requirements of divorced parents claiming according to who had the MINOR child for the most days. This has nothing to do with that.