Can I use Form 8814 to claim my child's interest income if they were a student for 5+ months but not in December?

The key requirement for Form 8814 depends on your child's status as a "qualifying child" for the tax year. For Form 8814 eligibility, your child must be under age 19 at the end of the tax year OR a full-time student under age 24 at the end of the tax year. The "5 months" requirement refers to the definition of a full-time student - someone who was enrolled as a full-time student at a qualifying educational institution for at least 5 months of the year. These months don't need to be consecutive, and December specifically is not required. So based on what you've shared, if your daughter was a full-time student for 7 months in 2024 (January through July), and she was under age 24 at the end of 2024, she would meet the student requirement for Form 8814 purposes. The fact that she wasn't enrolled in December doesn't disqualify you from using this form. Just remember that Form 8814 has other requirements too - like your child must only have income from interest and dividends (including capital gain distributions), and that income must be less than $11,500 for 2024.

Just wanted to share my experience with this exact situation last year. I spent hours trying to figure out the rules until I discovered taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) which helped me navigate this Form 8814 situation. My son was at college for spring semester but graduated in May. The tool analyzed my specific scenario and confirmed I could use Form 8814 since he was a student for 5+ months during the year, even though he wasn't enrolled in the fall or December. It saved me from making my son file his own return just for some interest income from his savings account. The tool also pulled out some other deductions I wasn't aware of related to my situation.

Update on my situation - I decided to try taxr.ai after seeing it mentioned here, and it was seriously helpful with my 529 plan situation. The tool analyzed my documents and clarified exactly how I needed to report the withdrawal for my niece's education expenses. It confirmed I couldn't claim the education credits since she's not my dependent, but showed me how to properly document the withdrawal so it wouldn't be treated as a non-qualified distribution (which would have triggered taxes and penalties). It even identified a partial deduction I qualified for based on my state's rules that I had no idea existed. Going to be using this for all my tax questions going forward!

If you're still having trouble getting a definitive answer about Form 8814, I'd recommend contacting the IRS directly. I was in a similar situation last year with form complications and spent WEEKS trying to get through to the IRS phone lines. After 20+ attempts, I finally found Claimyr (https://claimyr.com) - they got me connected to an IRS agent in about 15 minutes. They have a demo video if you want to see how it works: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c The IRS agent I spoke with confirmed the exact Form 8814 rules about student status - they clarified that being a student for 5+ months in the tax year is what matters, not specifically being enrolled in December. Having that official confirmation directly from the IRS saved me from making a filing mistake. Definitely worth the time saved compared to the dozens of hours I wasted trying to call myself.

I need to publicly eat my words about Claimyr. After dismissing it as too good to be true, I was desperate enough with my missing refund situation to try it. I honestly can't believe how well it worked. After 3 months of failed attempts to reach the IRS (either getting disconnected or being told the wait was too long), I was connected to an actual human IRS representative in under 20 minutes. The agent was able to locate my missing refund, confirm it had been processed but sent to the wrong account due to a digit error, and start the trace process to recover the funds. They also gave me a direct reference number for follow-up. I wasted so many hours trying to do this myself when I could have just used this service from the beginning. For anyone dealing with Form 8814 questions or any other IRS issues - this is definitely the way to go.

Just to add another perspective on Form 8814 - even if you CAN file it, sometimes it's better NOT to. When you add your child's investment income to yours, it gets taxed at YOUR tax rate, which is probably higher than your child's would be. For example, in 2024 the first $1,150 of a child's unearned income is tax-free, and the next $1,150 is taxed at just 10%. So if your daughter has $2,400 in interest, she'd only pay about $115 in taxes if she filed her own return. But if you add that $2,400 to your income and you're in the 22% or 24% bracket, you could end up paying $500+ in taxes on the same amount. Just something to consider before automatically using Form 8814 for convenience!

Just a heads up - if your child has an UTMA/UGMA account (which sounds possible given the grandparent setup), make sure you're handling it correctly. Once your child reaches age of majority in your state (18 or 21 depending on state), that account legally belongs to them, not you, even if you're still managing it. The Form 8814 question might be moot if she's over the age of majority in your state because then it's legally her income, not yours to elect to report. Different rules apply for custodial vs. non-custodial accounts, so make sure you know which type of account is generating the interest.