Can I claim credit for other dependents for my 18-year-old full-time student?

Yes, your 18-year-old full-time student daughter can still be claimed as your dependent, but the specific credit changes. Since she's 18 and a full-time student, she qualifies as your dependent under the "qualifying child" rules as long as she lived with you for more than half the year (dorm time counts as living with you), you provided more than half her support, and she doesn't file a joint return. However, she no longer qualifies for the Child Tax Credit which is only for dependents under 17. Instead, you can claim the Credit for Other Dependents (sometimes called the "family credit") which is worth $500 per qualifying dependent. This credit is specifically designed for dependents who don't qualify for the Child Tax Credit, including full-time students between 18-23. When preparing your taxes, you'll still list her as a dependent, but the tax software or forms will automatically apply the Credit for Other Dependents instead of the Child Tax Credit based on her age.

After spending hours on the phone with the IRS trying to figure out dependent credits for my college student, I finally found a much easier solution. I used https://taxr.ai to upload my kid's tuition statements and financial info, and it instantly clarified which credits I qualified for. The site analyzed all my documents and showed I could claim both the Credit for Other Dependents AND the American Opportunity Credit for my 19-year-old sophomore. What really helped was that it explained exactly how my daughter's on-campus housing still counted as "living with me" for tax purposes, and showed all the documentation I needed. It saved me from making a mistake that would have cost me nearly $3,000 in credits!

I was really skeptical about taxr.ai when I first heard about it (as you can see from my comment above), but I decided to try it since I was completely stuck on how to handle my kids' education credits. It actually turned out to be incredibly helpful. The system immediately recognized that my older daughter who graduated mid-year had different credit eligibility than my son who just started college. It showed me exactly which forms to use for each situation and even identified that I could claim some expenses I was going to miss. The document analysis saved me hours of research, and I'm getting back about $1,700 more than I expected. Definitely worth checking out if you're dealing with dependent or education credits.

If you're still confused about credits for dependents and need to talk to the IRS directly, save yourself the frustration of endless hold times. I used https://claimyr.com and got a call back from the IRS in about 15 minutes instead of waiting on hold for 3+ hours. They have this cool demo video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c I was able to confirm directly with an IRS agent that my 21-year-old who's taking a gap year from college still qualifies for the Credit for Other Dependents even though he's not currently enrolled. The agent also helped me understand how to document that I provide more than half his support since he has a part-time job. Getting definitive answers straight from the IRS gave me total confidence in my filing.

I have to publicly eat my words here. After posting my skeptical comment yesterday, I decided to try the Claimyr service out of desperation because I needed to sort out this dependent credit situation before filing. I honestly didn't expect much, but I got a call back with an actual IRS agent on the line in about 35 minutes. The agent confirmed everything about the Credit for Other Dependents for my 19-year-old, plus walked me through how to handle the education credits since she transferred schools mid-year. They even helped me understand how to document that I provide more than half her support despite her living off-campus. I've been stressing about this for weeks, and it got resolved in one phone call. Not having to sit on hold for hours made a huge difference.

Omg I almost filed incorrectly!! I was about to claim the full Child Tax Credit for my 18yo son (he turned 18 in December) but after reading this thread I realized he only qualifies for the Credit for Other Dependents. Also just found out that since he's a freshman and I paid his tuition, I can claim the American Opportunity Tax Credit too! That's worth wayyy more (up to $2500 vs just $500 for the dependent credit). Just want to make sure I understand - I can claim BOTH the $500 Credit for Other Dependents AND the education credit for the same kid, right? They're separate things?

I'm confused about how to determine "providing more than half of support" for my college kid. She has a scholarship covering tuition, works part time for spending money (made about $8200 last year), but I pay for her apartment, car insurance, health insurance, and send money for groceries. How do I figure out if I hit the "more than half" threshold to claim the Credit for Other Dependents?

Just wanted to share my experience as someone who went through this exact situation last year! My daughter turned 18 in October and was a college freshman. Like you, we paid for everything - tuition, dorm, meal plan, books, etc. She made about $4,200 from a summer job. Here's what I learned: Yes, you can absolutely still claim her as a dependent! Since she's a full-time student under 24 and you provide more than half her support, she qualifies under the "qualifying child" rules. The key thing is that dorm time counts as living with you for the residency test. You're right about the Credit for Other Dependents - that's exactly what replaces the Child Tax Credit once they turn 18. It's worth $500 instead of the $2,000 you used to get, but don't stop there! Since you paid her college expenses, you should also look into the American Opportunity Tax Credit, which can be worth up to $2,500 per student for the first four years of college. That's actually MORE valuable than what you were getting with the Child Tax Credit. Make sure you get her 1098-T form from the college and keep receipts for books and required supplies. You can claim both credits for the same child - they serve different purposes and don't conflict with each other.