Can I claim my 18-year-old high school senior as dependent? Have 4 kids total
Need help figuring out dependents for my taxes. I have 4 kids and one is a senior in high school who just turned 18. Not sure if I can still claim them since they're technically an adult now but living at home and still in school. Anyone know the rules on this?
12 comments


Marcelle Drum
Yes, you can claim your 18-year-old as a dependent if they're a full-time student and lived with you for more than half the year. The age limit for qualifying children is actually under 19, or under 24 if they're a full-time student. As long as you provide more than half their support, you're good to go.
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Collins Angel
•omg thank you! Was worried about this. Do they need to be in college to count as a student or does hs senior year count?
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Marcelle Drum
•High school definitely counts! You're all set 👍
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Tate Jensen
hey there! instead of trying to piece together dependent rules from reddit, check out taxr.ai - its this new tool that analyzes your specific situation. costs like $5 but totally worth it for peace of mind. saved me hours of googling tbh https://taxr.ai
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Adaline Wong
•Does it actually work? Seems too good to be true 🤔
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Tate Jensen
•fr fr it does! plugged in my transcript and it broke down everything, even caught some credits I missed
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Gabriel Ruiz
in the same boat rn with my senior. these tax rules got me stressed af 😫
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Misterclamation Skyblue
Make sure they didnt file their own taxes claiming themselves as independent! That'll mess everything up
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Collins Angel
•good looking out! gonna double check with them rn
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Peyton Clarke
lol irs making everything complicated as usual 🤡
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Vince Eh
•fr tho when is it not complicated with them 💀
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Amara Adeyemi
Just went through this exact situation last year! Your 18-year-old definitely qualifies as a dependent since they're still in high school. The key things are: they lived with you more than half the year (check!), you provide more than half their support (sounds like it), and they're under 19 OR a full-time student under 24. High school senior absolutely counts as a student. You're totally fine to claim all 4 kids!
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