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Subject Author Date
New york state college tuition deduction Geoff 02-22-2007
Posted by Geoff on February 22, 2007, 5:26 pm
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 My 19 year old son is paying his own college tuition.
He has no significant income or deductions.

Apparently claiming him as a dependent is worth more to me
than a Federal deduction would be worth to him; so I am
claiming him as a dependent.

On the NYS form he can claim a deduction anyhow, not that he
would be paying much taxes anyhow. But when I run it
through TaxCut, it says he can't take a deduction because he
did not take an itemized Fed deduction.

Is that right? It is pretty confusing, and I just want to
be sure. Thanks.

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Posted by Mark Bole on February 23, 2007, 6:50 am
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 Geoff wrote:

> My 19 year old son is paying his own college tuition.
> He has no significant income or deductions.
>
> Apparently claiming him as a dependent is worth more to me
> than a Federal deduction would be worth to him; so I am
> claiming him as a dependent.
>
> On the NYS form he can claim a deduction anyhow, not that he
> would be paying much taxes anyhow. But when I run it
> through TaxCut, it says he can't take a deduction because he
> did not take an itemized Fed deduction.
>
> Is that right? It is pretty confusing, and I just want to
> be sure. Thanks.

Yes, it is confusing. There are personal exemption
deductions (for yourself and your spouse if married),
dependent exemption deductions, and either standard or
itemized deductions for various types of personal
expenditures. (Not to mention AMT, but that's another
issue). It sounds like you are mixing some of these up. The
NYS situation is not familiar to me but in general some
states may require you to take standard or itemized
deductions just as on the federal return, and others don't.

Whether or not your son is your dependent is not a matter of
choice, he either is or isn't based on the facts and
circumstances. For example, his income doesn't matter when
figuring where his support, only what it cost and who paid
for it. You say he is paying his own tuition but has no
significant income, that tells me he is paying for it with
some combination of savings, gifts, or loans. If he paid
more than half of his own support, he cannot be your
dependent.

You either need to spend a lot more time reading the IRS
publications or seeing a human tax professional. You
mention TaxCut, I believe with that product you have the
option of moving from a self-service approach to an assisted
approach at some additional cost but you may also get enough
help from other replies here to complete the tax return
yourself.

-Mark Bole

<< ======================================================= >>
<< The foregoing was not intended or written to be used, >>
<< nor can it used, for the purpose of avoiding penalties >>
<< that may be imposed upon the taxpayer. >>
<< >>
<< The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting posts >>
<< to this newsgroup as well as our anti-spamming policy >>
<< are at www.asktax.org. >>
<< Copyright (2006) - All rights reserved. >>
<< ======================================================= >>

Posted by Benjamin Yazersky CPA on February 25, 2007, 12:21 am
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> My 19 year old son is paying his own college tuition.
> He has no significant income or deductions.
>
> Apparently claiming him as a dependent is worth more to me
> than a Federal deduction would be worth to him; so I am
> claiming him as a dependent.
>
> On the NYS form he can claim a deduction anyhow, not that he
> would be paying much taxes anyhow. But when I run it
> through TaxCut, it says he can't take a deduction because he
> did not take an itemized Fed deduction.
>
> Is that right? It is pretty confusing, and I just want to
> be sure. Thanks.

taxes are supposed to be confusing <G>

I think the answer is that you have to crunch the numbers.
It can be advantageous, but not necessarily in each & every
case.

___________________________________
<<< Benjamin Yazersky, CPA [NJ & NY] >>>
-----> real address on hobokeni or hobokenx <-----

<< ======================================================= >>
<< The foregoing was not intended or written to be used, >>
<< nor can it used, for the purpose of avoiding penalties >>
<< that may be imposed upon the taxpayer. >>
<< >>
<< The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting posts >>
<< to this newsgroup as well as our anti-spamming policy >>
<< are at www.asktax.org. >>
<< Copyright (2006) - All rights reserved. >>
<< ======================================================= >>

Posted by Victor Roberts on February 26, 2007, 12:54 am
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> My 19 year old son is paying his own college tuition.
> He has no significant income or deductions.
>
> Apparently claiming him as a dependent is worth more to me
> than a Federal deduction would be worth to him; so I am
> claiming him as a dependent.
>
> On the NYS form he can claim a deduction anyhow, not that he
> would be paying much taxes anyhow. But when I run it
> through TaxCut, it says he can't take a deduction because he
> did not take an itemized Fed deduction.
>
> Is that right? It is pretty confusing, and I just want to
> be sure. Thanks.

I'm not a tax pro, and it's been a few years since I have
dealt with the NY college tuition credit for my own kids,
but you can get more information from New York Publication
10W, available here:
http://www.tax.state.ny.us/pdf/publications/income/pub10w_1006.pdf.

Based on a quick read of this eligible students may claim
either a tax credit or an itemized deduction - HOWEVER,
neither seems to be available to anyone who is claimed as a
dependent on another person's NY State tax return.

If you son is your dependent and if you had paid the tuition
you would be eligible for the credit or itemized deduction.

--
Vic Roberts
Replace xxx with vdr in e-mail address.

<< ======================================================= >>
<< The foregoing was not intended or written to be used, >>
<< nor can it used, for the purpose of avoiding penalties >>
<< that may be imposed upon the taxpayer. >>
<< >>
<< The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting posts >>
<< to this newsgroup as well as our anti-spamming policy >>
<< are at www.asktax.org. >>
<< Copyright (2006) - All rights reserved. >>
<< ======================================================= >>

Posted by Geoff on February 27, 2007, 3:55 pm
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>> My 19 year old son is paying his own college tuition.
>> He has no significant income or deductions.
>>
>> Apparently claiming him as a dependent is worth more to me
>> than a Federal deduction would be worth to him; so I am
>> claiming him as a dependent.
>>
>> On the NYS form he can claim a deduction anyhow, not that he
>> would be paying much taxes anyhow. But when I run it
>> through TaxCut, it says he can't take a deduction because he
>> did not take an itemized Fed deduction.
>>
>> Is that right? It is pretty confusing, and I just want to
>> be sure. Thanks.

> I'm not a tax pro, and it's been a few years since I have
> dealt with the NY college tuition credit for my own kids,
> but you can get more information from New York Publication
> 10W, available here:
> http://www.tax.state.ny.us/pdf/publications/income/pub10w_1006.pdf.
>
> Based on a quick read of this eligible students may claim
> either a tax credit or an itemized deduction - HOWEVER,
> neither seems to be available to anyone who is claimed as a
> dependent on another person's NY State tax return.
>
> If you son is your dependent and if you had paid the tuition
> you would be eligible for the credit or itemized deduction.

Thank you! It says that I can claim the state credit, even
though he paid the tuition. It is only $400, but still...

<< ======================================================= >>
<< The foregoing was not intended or written to be used, >>
<< nor can it used, for the purpose of avoiding penalties >>
<< that may be imposed upon the taxpayer. >>
<< >>
<< The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting posts >>
<< to this newsgroup as well as our anti-spamming policy >>
<< are at www.asktax.org. >>
<< Copyright (2006) - All rights reserved. >>
<< ======================================================= >>

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