Who's correct H&R Block or me

[mrichman333]

I have a long time client who's daughter had education expenses, she turned 24 by the end of the year and earned 24K.  I told my client she could not claim her daughters exemption and therefore could not claim the education credits for 2017 and that her daughter should claim them on her return. 

The daughter already filed, so I recommended a amended return.  The client sent me the daughters return prepared by H&R block.  They did not take the personal exemption on the daughters return but indicated she could be claimed on someone else's return.

My understanding is

For education credits,     You must be able to claim the exemption

For claiming the exemption

MUST be UNDER 24 at the end of the year and a student. OR earned under $4,050

How's correct and shouldn't H&R block have picked up on this

[ILLMAS]

The parent or the student can claim the lifetime learning credit, if I remember correctly there is no age limit.

[Hahn1040]

The point is:  the child is no longer a dependent.  At age 24, she is no longer a qualifying child.  As a qualifying relative, she cannot have income over $4,050.  The credit or deduction goes with the exemption.  The parent cannot claim the daughter, thus they cannot take the credit.  She claims herself and take the credit or deduction that she qualifies and saves her the most.

[Jack from Ohio]

Hahn 1040 is EXACTLY correct.

H&R, in the example given, is wrong.

[mrichman333]

Exactly how I see it Hahn and jack, the credit goes with the exemption.  H&R should have verified she is a dependent and not take her word for it, after all that's their job isn't it

[Jack from Ohio]

59 minutes ago, mrichman333 said:

 H&R should have verified she is a dependent and not take her word for it, after all that's their job isn't it

 

[Cathy]

mrichman333,

As others have said, you are correct and H & R is H & R.....enuf said!

I know how you feel though.   You can't imagine anyone making the mistakes you see coming out of H & R's offices, and a little part (very tiny part) of you wonders if you are wrong and H & R is right!  Have  no fear...it will happen again and again and again until you get used to it and no more have to go through the shock part of it!

Take care,

Cathy

 

 

[JohnH]

The only thing I place absolute faith in is advice from the people on this forum

 

[BulldogTom]

53 minutes ago, JohnH said:

The only thing I place absolute faith in is advice from the people on this forum

 

That is a great sentiment.   But like Ronald Reagan said "Trust but Verify".   I trust a lot of people on this board to point me in the right direction.   But I do my own research and I reach my own conclusions.   After all, it is my signature on the bottom of that return, not Eric.

Tom
Modesto, CA

[jklcpa]

25 minutes ago, BulldogTom said:

That is a great sentiment.   But like Ronald Reagan said "Trust but Verify".   I trust a lot of people on this board to point me in the right direction.   But I do my own research and I reach my own conclusions.   After all, it is my signature on the bottom of that return, not Eric.

Tom
Modesto, CA

Excellent answer, Tom, and I agree with you completely! 

One of the dangers of relying on any advice from others, here or elsewhere, is that it's entirely possible to give a correct answer to a question asked, but as we've seen in several topics very recently, after multiple queries from those trying to provide useful guidance and answers, the actual fact pattern was revealed to be vastly different than as originally presented to us!   And that, my friends, is one reason we never help those from the general public that stumble in on occasion.

[Catherine]

I will trust the folks here to provide a correct answer to the question asked.  Whether the question asked is the actual issue is a different problem!  Plus we sometimes get a half-dozen answers which might all be correct depending on minor details. From there, we extrapolate (Bulldog Tom's "do my own research" equivalent). 

[JohnH]

That's why I posted the statement in its simplest form.  Whenever an incorrect answer is posted, someone rings in with a correction. That happens on other forums as well, but the tone and tenor of the correction tends to be more civil over here.  There have been a few times when the discussion went off the rails & got combative, but the general nature of the conversation here is collaborative and supportive.