Last year I made arou d $6500 as a student, this year I made $12000 as a student. Can my parents still claim me I made over 10150, they provide more than 50% .19years old

[ramos00northeast]

"Okay so this is my biggest question for this upcoming year. Last year I made arou d $6500 as a student, this year I made ahout $12000 as a student. Can my parents still claim me. I plan to file for a tax return because I had around 4500 taken from those 12000 that I wish to get back. I just don't want to cause an issue where my parents dont get a tax break. The answer to do they support more than 50%. Yes they do, they provide almost all of it, books are ridiculous now a days. And with the 4500 that I lost in taxes I was only left with 6500 to help with my tuition. Could someone please answer this question. Because I now make over the 10,150 am I forced to file independently or no, im only 19 years old, I just turned 19 in november this year. "

[Hal_Al · Accepted solution]

There is one bit of information missing from your post. Do you still live with your parents? If so, they can still claim you. Being away at school is considered a temporary absence and you are considered to still be living with them.

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

3. He lived with the parent (or was away at school) for more than half the year

 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.

Furthermore, there is a rule that says IF somebody else CAN claim him as a dependent, he is not allowed to claim his own exemption. If he has sufficient income (usually more than $6300), he can & should still file taxes; he just doesn’t get his own $4000 exemption (deduction). In TurboTax, he indicates that somebody else can claim him as a dependent, at the personal information section.  

[ramos00northeast]

Yes I live with my parents year round rokm and board would be another 15k pushing a 35k tuition to 50k a year.... and it only keeps rising yearly.

[ramos00northeast]

Now would I get any tax breaks for being a full time student since I would have to file for a tax return anyways, last year from the 6200 I made I was returned almost everything which was about 2300 in taxes, would this year be the same or since I made over 10150 and hit the next bracket would I not get as big as a return from the 4000 they taken from me so far, I use the returns for help for tuition for the following year almost like a secure way to not spend it on anything but school.

[Hal_Al]

YOU don't get any tax breaks for being a full time student, your parents do.
Anything over $6300 will be taxed. At $12,000 income, your tax is $570 (10% of 12,000-6300). If you had $4500 withheld, you'll get back $3930 (unless  that $4500 includes FICA. You don't get any FICA [social security & medicare] back).

By the way, $4500 withholding on $12,000 of income, is excessive, as was $2300 on $6500 the year before. In fact, so excessive, that the only likely way that happened was for you to have asked for "additional" withholding.

[bwa]

Based on the facts in your post, and assuming you are a full time student, your parents can still claim you as a dependent.  Don't forget on your return to indicate that you can be claimed as a dependent by someone else.

[ramos00northeast]

Now my second question to that would be for my university tuition is 35k a year, is there a cap on how much I can make a year if most of it is going to the school anyways for tax breaks for ny parents or no?

[Hal_Al]

No, there is no cap on what you can make. The cap is on how much of your own support you can pay (less than 50%). The support value of the home your parents provide is the fair market rental value of the home plus utilities & other expenses divided by the number of occupants.