I am a 21 yr old college student whose parents always claim me as dependent, but this summer I made $14000 in a summer 2019 internship and also paid tuition. How do I file and get a refund?

[shahjacob]

So I quite literally know nothing about taxes but think I might need to file. I am 21 and live in NYC. My parents have always filed taxes joint or whatever with me dependent (blah blah blah).

• However this summer in 2019 I had a finance internship where I made $14000 (pre tax) and about $9500-9800 post tax. I don't remember the specifics as it's been a few months.
• How exactly do I file for taxes? By myself? With my parents? And how do I show that I paid $858 in tutition? Will that lower the taxes I have to pay?
• Also, what documents do I need from my employer?
• Finally, how do I maximize the tax refund I can get?

[Hal_Al]

1. Your parents will still  claim you as a dependent, on their return. This assumes you were a Full time student for parts of 5 months.

2. You must file a tax return of your own.  You will check the box that says you are a dependent on someone else's return. That will not reduce your refund, thanks to the new tax law (it did in the old days [pre 2018]).

3. You do not show that you paid tuition, on your return.  But, your parents claim that tuition, on their return, even though you paid it. 

4. In January, you will receive a form W-2 from your employer, that contains all your income and withholding.

5. There is little you can or need to  do to maximize the tax refund.  Students, with earned income, get a standard deduction of $12,000, so only $2000 of a $14,000 income is taxed. $2000 x 10% = $200 tax.  You could make a $2000 contribution to a traditional IRA to reduce that to 0.

[VolvoGirl]

He also has another question going here

https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/taxes/discussion/re-i-am-21-year-college-student-whose-parents-hav...