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Posted by Ernie Klein on April 9, 2007, 7:21 am
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> Before this year the sum of my college age daughter and my
> taxes was less by making her my dependent. This year because
> of the AMT as a dependent she saves me $10 in taxes whereas
> she saves $200 more in taxes by being her own dependent. So
> if you are in the same boat check it out both ways. Thankfully
> it is so easy to change with a tax program. Doing what ifs like
> this when you are hit by the AMT by hand would be a real killer.
While I am a layman and not a tax expert, I didn't think that you
got to pick and choose. I thought that if you _could_ claim your
daughter as a dependent (i.e., she met all of the tests as a
dependent) then she was PROHIBITED by law from claiming herself as
an exemption on her own tax form, even if you elected _not_ to take
the deduction yourself.
AFAIK you can elect _not_ to claim her as a dependent but because
you could then she cannot claim herself even if you don't. As I
recall, that's a tax gotcha.
Am I wrong? (if I am, I am sure others will be quick to correct)
--
-Ernie-
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