Don't know what to do regarding my taxes

Forum|Forum|6 years ago
March 29, 2020
1 reply
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Hello,

I am a 20-year-old full-time college student who filed their taxes but put that I am a dependent. My father is currently disabled only on SSDI and his tax person said he wasn't required to file because he didn't work and he only had the SSDI income. Since he didn't file should I fix my taxes and put myself as an independent? I don't make much because I work a student job and I don't receive much aid from my parents. I make around $9,000 for the 2019 year but get a lot of aid from my college. If my parent doesn't file should I adjust my tax return and make myself independent? Or if my parent doesn't file and I still left my status on my taxes as a dependent and my school sees that on FAFSA how will they react?

Not A Product Question

ColeenD3

If you do not qualify as a dependent for your parents, you are independent. While income is not an issue, support is. If you provided more than half of your own support, then you are not a dependent.

Qualifying Child

Relationship — the taxpayer’s child or stepchild (whether by blood or adoption), foster child, sibling or step-sibling, or a descendant of one of these.

Residence — has the same principal residence as the taxpayer for more than half the tax year. Exceptions apply, in certain cases, for children of divorced or separated parents, kidnapped children, temporary absences, and for children who were born or died during the year.

Age — must be under the age of 19 at the end of the tax year, or under the age of 24 if a full-time student for at least five months of the year, or be permanently and totally disabled at any time during the year.

Support — did not provide more than one-half of his/her own support for the year.

Hal_Al

Employee

Note the support requirement. The parent does not need to have provided more than half your support. The rule is that you didn't provide more than half your own support. For this rule, scholarships are considered third party support and not support provided by the student. The support value of the home, provided by the parent, is the fair market rental value of the home plus utilities & other expenses divided by the number of occupants.

With the tax law change, effective 2018, most students will get the same refund whether they claim themselves or not. The personal exemption has been eliminated and the standard deduction increased.

As to the FAFSA question, you'll have to ask them. But, since most students are dependents, I wouldn't think it matters