CFR Subpart R

ECFR7ff8cd3cedd11bb Who Is Considered Your Parent

ECFR8fef47d75ac958a Who Is Considered a Student for Purposes of the Student Earned Income Exclusion

20 C.F.R. § 416.1856 Who is considered a child.

We consider you to be a child if— (a)(1) You are under 18 years old; or (2) You are under 22 years old and you are a student regularly attending school or college or training that is designed to prepare you for a paying job; (b) You are not married; and (c) You are not the head of a household.

20 C.F.R. § 416.1861 Deciding whether you are a child: Are you a student?

(a) Are you a student? You are a student regularly attending school or college or training that is designed to prepare you for a paying job if you are enrolled for one or more courses of study and you attend class— (1) In a college or university for at least 8 hours a week under a semester or quarter system; (2) In grades 7-12 for at least 12 hours a week; (3) In a course of training to prepare you for a paying job, and you are attending that training for at least 15 hours a week if the training involves shop practice or 12 hours a week if it does not involve shop practice (this kind of training includes anti-poverty programs, such as the Job Corps, and government-supported courses in self-improvement); or (4) Less than the amount of time given in paragraph (a) (1), (2), or (3) of this section for reasons you cannot control, such as illness, if the circumstances justify your reduced credit load or attendance. (b) If you are instructed at home. You may be a student regularly attending school if you are instructed at home in grades 7-12 in accordance with a home school law of the State or other jurisdiction in which you reside and for at least 12 hours a week. (c) If you have to stay home. You may be a student regularly attending school, college, or training to prepare you for a paying job if— (1) You have to stay home because of your disability; (2) You are studying at home a course or courses given by a school (grades 7-12), college, university, or government agency; and (3) A home visitor or tutor directs your study or training. (d) When you are not in school—(1) When school is out. We will consider you to be a student regularly attending school, college, or training to prepare you for a paying job even when classes are out if you actually attend regularly just before the time classes are out and you— (i) Tell us that you intend to resume attending regularly when school opens again; or (ii) Actually do resume attending regularly when school opens again. (2) Other times. Your counselor or teacher may believe you need to stay out of class for a short time during the course or between courses to enable you to continue your study or training. That will not stop us from considering you to be a student regularly attending school, college, or training to prepare you for a paying job if you are in— (i) A course designed to prepare disabled people for work; or (ii) A course to prepare you for a job that is specially set up for people who cannot work at ordinary jobs. (e) Last month of school. We will consider you to be a student regularly attending school, college, or training to prepare you for a paying job for the month in which you complete or stop your course of study or training. (f) When we need evidence that you are a student. We need evidence that you are a student if you are 18 years old or older but under age 22, because we will not consider you to be a child unless we consider you to be a student. (g) What evidence we need. If we need evidence that you are a student, you must— (1) Show us any paper you have that shows you are a student in a school, college, or training program, such as a student identification card or tuition receipt; and (2) Tell us— (i) What courses you are taking; (ii) How many hours a week you spend in classes; (iii) The name and address of the school or college you attend or the agency training you; and (iv) The name and telephone number of someone at the school, college, or agency who can tell us more about your courses, in case we need information you cannot give us.

20 C.F.R. § 416.1866 Deciding whether you are a child: Are you the head of a household?

(a) Meaning of head of household. You are the head of a household if you have left your parental home on a permanent basis and you are responsible for the day-to-day decisions on the operation of your own household. If you live with your parent(s) or stepparents, we will ordinarily assume you are not the head of a household. However, we will consider you to be the head of a household if for some reason (such as your parent's illness) you are the one who makes the day-to-day decisions. You need not have someone living with you to be the head of a household. (b) If you share decision-making equally. If you live with one or more people and everyone has an equal voice in the decision-making (for example, a group of students who share off-campus housing), that group is not a household. Each person who has left the parental home on a permanent basis is the head of his or her own household.