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Level 2
December 20, 2022
Question

Individual Tax - Whether F-1 student can be treated as Qualified Child

  • December 20, 2022
  • 2 replies
  • 22 views

If parents meet resident alien but their children are foreign students' status, can they treat their children as dependent? What I understand is to meet qualified child or dependent, the child or dependent needs to be US citizen, green card holder or resident alien. However, as a foreign student status (F-1), you have to wait 5 years before starting to calculate substantial presence test. Hence, until their children change citizen status or meet substantial presence test, their parents are not able to claim them as dependent on their tax return. 

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2 replies

Intuit Community Champion
December 21, 2022

Do the children live with parents?  (Being in school counts as living with) 

binfeiwaAuthor
Level 2
December 28, 2022

One child is living with parents, and another one is studying in a boarding school. Both are not a citizen of Mexico and Canada. They are holding F-1 students' visa. 

Level 15
December 21, 2022

@binfeiwa wrote:

What I understand is to meet qualified child or dependent, the child or dependent needs to be US citizen, green card holder or resident alien. However, as a foreign student status (F-1), you have to wait 5 years before starting to calculate substantial presence test. Hence, until their children change citizen status or meet substantial presence test, their parents are not able to claim them as dependent on their tax return. 


 

Correct.  Well, almost.  I think Citizens and Residents of Mexico and Canada also qualify.

 

binfeiwaAuthor
Level 2
December 28, 2022

The child is not a Citizens and Residents of Mexico and Canada. I understand the law. It is just the logic. Why you cannot claim your child if he or she has F-1 Visa?

sjrcpa
Level 15
December 28, 2022

The 2 tenets of tax law:

1. It doesn't have to make sense.

2. It doesn't have to be fair.

The more I know the more I don’t know.