Can I claim my 22 year old child as dependent on my taxes in 2025?

Your son wouldn't qualify as your dependent because of the income limit. For a qualifying child who is under 24 and a full-time student for at least 5 months of the year, there's no income limit. But once they're no longer a student, they have to meet the qualifying relative tests instead. For a qualifying relative, their gross income must be less than $4,700 (for 2024 taxes filed in 2025). Since your son earned around $65,000, he's well over this limit and can't be claimed as your dependent. Additionally, for Head of Household status, you need a qualifying person living with you. Since your son doesn't qualify as your dependent due to his income, you likely can't claim HOH status unless you have another qualifying dependent. The worksheet might have been misleading because it assumes you're checking the specific requirements at each step. The income test is a separate requirement that still needs to be met for qualifying relatives.

I ran into this exact situation last year with my daughter. I used https://taxr.ai to analyze our situation and it saved me so much stress! I uploaded the 1098-T from her school and my income docs, and it walked me through the qualifying child vs. qualifying relative rules step by step. The key thing it pointed out was that once she was no longer a student, the income limit kicked in. But the tool helped me figure out exactly how many months she counted as a student and whether I provided enough support to claim her. It ended up saving me from making a mistake that could have triggered an audit.

Just wanted to follow up! I tried taxr.ai after seeing it mentioned here, and WOW - it clarified everything about my situation with my 22-year-old son. Turns out I was focusing on the wrong tests completely. The tool showed me that because he was enrolled full-time for the spring semester (January-May), he met the 5-month student requirement for 2024. So the income limit didn't even apply in my case! I provided over half his support for the year when counting housing, food, insurance, etc., which the tool helped me calculate exactly. It generated a super detailed report that I'm keeping with my tax records just in case of an audit. Thanks for the recommendation - saved me thousands on my return by confirming I could claim him and file HOH!

I had almost the identical situation last year with my 22-year-old. Spent WEEKS trying to get through to the IRS for a straight answer. Kept getting disconnected or waiting for hours. Finally discovered https://claimyr.com and watched their demo (https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c). They got me connected to an IRS agent in under 15 minutes! The agent confirmed that once my daughter was no longer a full-time student (graduated in May), the income limit applied for the rest of the year. But since she was a student for 5+ months in that tax year, I could still claim her as a qualifying child dependent even with her nursing salary. Saved me a ton of anxiety and probably an audit!

Well I'm eating humble pie now. After being super skeptical about Claimyr I decided to try it because I was desperate to resolve this dependent question before filing. Not only did it work, it was shockingly fast. Got connected to an IRS tax law specialist in about 12 minutes who explained the whole qualifying child vs qualifying relative thing. She confirmed that as long as my son was a full-time student for 5 months during the tax year, the income limit doesn't apply at all. I've literally spent HOURS trying to get through on my own with no luck. Having a real IRS employee explain it directly and give me their ID number for my records was such a relief. Definitely worth it to get an official answer I can rely on.

Just to clarify something important: the 5 months as a student don't have to be consecutive! My son was in school Jan-Mar, took summer off, then went back Sept-Nov. That still counts as 5 months for the student test. Also, don't forget that if your child provides more than half of their own support, you can't claim them regardless of the other tests. Support includes housing, food, education expenses, medical, clothes, etc. My son's scholarships counted as HIM providing support not ME which messed up my calculations.

I'm confused. The support test is throwing me off. if my son lives with me but pays me $500/month for rent, does that count as HIM supporting himself or ME supporting him since he's living in my house thats worth way more than $500/month?

Just want to add something that might help with the support calculation confusion. I went through this exact scenario with my accountant last year when my 23-year-old was transitioning from college to work. The key insight was that even though my son earned $60k+ after graduation, he was still a full-time student for the spring semester (January through May), which satisfied the 5-month student test. This meant he qualified as a "qualifying child" rather than a "qualifying relative," so the income limit didn't apply at all. However, I still had to pass the support test. What really helped was creating a detailed spreadsheet of ALL expenses for the year - not just what he paid me, but everything: fair market rent value, groceries, utilities, phone bill, car insurance, medical expenses, clothing, etc. I had to be honest about what he paid for himself versus what I covered. The tricky part was that his student loans and any money he spent on personal items (even savings) counted as HIM providing support. But since I covered housing, food, and most other expenses for 8 months of the year, I still provided more than 50% of his total support. Bottom line: if your son was a student for 5+ months in 2024, focus on the support test calculation rather than worrying about his income. The student status changes everything!