Reference

Student Rule Wizard

Records each household member’s enrollment month by month for the certification year and the next calendar year, applies the five-month test of IRC §152(f)(2), and, when every member is a full-time student, works the IRC §42(i)(3)(D) exceptions one at a time. Properties layered with Section 8 can also check each student in higher education against 24 CFR 5.612.

Step by step

1. Set up the certification

   Enter the effective date, certification type, and household. The student rule looks at calendar years, so the wizard checks the year of the effective date and the next one. Check the Section 8 box for layered properties.

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2. Add household members

   List everyone who will live in the unit, including children, with age and relationship. Use Add another household member for each person.

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3. Mark enrollment

   Pick each member’s school, then click a month once for Full-time, again for Part-time, and again to clear. Count a month if they are enrolled for any part of it. All year and School year fill a row in one click.

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4. Read the five-month test

   Five or more full-time months at a qualifying school make a full-time student. The status under each row says where the member stands, and a warning appears when someone is one to four months short.

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5. Add next year’s plans

   Fill in the next year’s row from what the household expects, such as a planned fall enrollment. A household that is fine this year can become all-student in January, and the wizard names anyone whose next-year row is still empty.

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6. Work the exceptions

   When every member is a full-time student, five exceptions open. Answer each with Yes or No; one exception is enough. Each one that applies lists the documents to keep in the file.

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7. Check Section 8 students

   With the Section 8 box checked, each member enrolled in higher education, full-time or part-time, gets a card. Check any exemption that applies; if none do, work the independence test and the income questions.

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8. Print or save the record

   Print Record gives a one-page record with the enrollment table, every answer, the documents to keep, and the next review reminder. Subscribers can Save to Household and reopen it at the next recertification.

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What you get

A result (not an all-student household; all-student with an exception that applies; all-student with no exception; or exception not yet documented), each member’s full-time months for both years, the exceptions relied on with the documents to keep, a Section 8 result per student when layered, and a printable one-page Student Rule Record. Save to Household is for subscribers.

Tips & notes

• K-12 students count. A single parent in college with a child in elementary school is an all-student household, and the single-parent exception may cover it.
• On-the-job training, correspondence or online-only schools, and night school only are not qualifying schools.
• Student status has to be checked at every recertification, even where annual income recertifications are not required, and whenever someone moves in or out.
• The Section 8 rule is separate: it looks at each student in higher education, including part-time students. A household can pass one rule and fail the other.
• The record documents the answers given. It is not a legal determination, so confirm each answer with the documents listed and follow your state agency’s manual where it is stricter.