Can someone else claim me as a dependent on their tax return? I am a full time college student, age 23. I pay for all of my living expenses and live in off-campus housing

https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/dependents/help/when-do-i-have-to-answer-yes-to-being-claimed-as-a-dependent/00/1994319

It Depends. Did you pay more than half of your living expenses and other support or was it your mom. You mentioned that your mom paid for insurance and phone bill while you paid for food and housing, so it all depends on who paid for more than half of the the living expenses and support. So if you paid for more then half of your expenses, then your mom cannot claim you.

In general, support is the money spend on a person to provide the basic necessities of life.

Support includes the cost of:

• Food
• Lodging (even if your mortgage is paid off)
• Clothing
• Education (including the GI bill)
• Medical and dental care (including insurance and supplemental Medicare premiums)
• Recreation
• Transportation and similar necessities

Support doesn't include:

• Life insurance premiums
• Funeral expenses
• Federal, state, or local income taxes or Social Security and Medicare taxes paid on a person's own income
• Scholarship grants
• Income earned by a disabled person in a sheltered workshop

Q. So, yes or no? Can someone else claim me as a dependent on their tax return?

A. Yes, most likely.  But you haven't provided enough info. You most likely have to make that determination on your own, as it probably hinges on the support calculation.

There are two types of dependents, "Qualifying Children"(QC) and standard ("Qualifying Relative" in IRS parlance even though they don't have to actually be related). There is no income limit for a QC but there is an age limit, student status, a relationship test and residence test.

A child of a taxpayer can still be a “Qualifying Child” (QC) dependent, regardless of his/her income, if:

1. He is under age 19, or under 24 if a full time student for at least 5 months of the year, or is totally & permanently disabled
2. He did not provide more than 1/2 his own support. Scholarships, and the expenses they pay for, are excluded from the support calculation.  
3. He lived with the parent (including temporary absences such as away at school, even if living off campus) for more than half the year (you are considered to be living with your parents if away at school)

So, it doesn't matter how much he earned. What matters is how much he spent on support. Money he put into savings does not count as support he spent on him self.

Student loans are considered  support provided by the student, unless in the parent's name or the parent co-signed. 

The support value of the home, provided by the parent, even while the student is away, is the fair market rental value of the home plus utilities & other expenses divided by the number of occupants.

The IRS has a worksheet that can be used to help with the support calculation. See: http://apps.irs.gov/app/vita/content/globalmedia/teacher/worksheet_for_determining_support_4012.pdf

Weather the parent actually claims the student if they qualify to claim them, or doesn't claim them really doesn't weigh in here. The key word is "QUALIFY'. Does the parent "qualify" to claim the student? That is the question.

First, who claims the student as a dependent?

If the student:

Is under the age of 24 on Dec 31 of the tax year and:

Is enrolled in an undergraduate program at an accredited institution and:

Is enrolled as a full time student for any one academic semester that begins during the tax year, (each institution has their own definition of a full time student) and:

the STUDENT did NOT provide more that 50% of the STUDENT’S support (scholarships/grants/529 distributions received by the student ***do not count*** as the student providing their own support)

Then:

The parents qualify to claim the student as a dependent on the parent's tax return . Period, End of Story. But one thing I want to point out here. The parents *QUALIFY* to claim the student. The parents are *NOT* required to claim the student as a dependent. But even if they don’t, since they *qualify* to claim the student, then if the student will be filing their own tax return the student is *REQUIRED* to select the option for “I can be claimed on someone else’s return”.  To reiterate:

If the student qualifies to be claimed on the parent’s tax return, then the student can not take the self-exemption on their own tax return, no …matter…what.

So basically, the parents have a choice. The student does not.

There are only two possible ways the student can provide more than half of their own support.

1) The student has earned income from self-employed or has a W-2 job and made sufficient income during the tax year to justify a claim to providing more than half of their support.  Additionally, the earned income must exceed the total amount of all other 3rd party income received during the tax year, such as scholarships, grants, 529 distributions, gifts from Aunt Mary, money from mom and dad, etc.

2) The student is the "primary" borrower on a qualified student loan and sufficient funds were distributed to the student during the tax year to justify a claim to providing more than half of their own support. Additionally, the money distributed during the tax year must exceed the total amount of all other 3rd party income received during the tax year, such as scholarships, grants, 529 distributions, gifts from Aunt Mary, money from mom and dad, etc.