I am a full time student and last year I paid for all my own schooling and clothes. My parents so they pay housing and insurance. Is this considered supporting myself?

[SophieERedler19]

I live with my parents so they pay for housing, insurance, and most of my food.

[AmyC]

You all have some math work to do.  The IRS states in pub 501:

Support includes amounts spent to provide:

• Food,
• Lodging,
• Clothing,
• Education,
• Medical and dental care,
• Recreation,
• Transportation, and
• Similar necessities.

The value of the home and vacations do add to their support along with the food and insurance.  Sit down and go through all of this together. The IRS has a quick online quiz to determine who gets to claim you, see Dependent. 

[xmasbaby0]

CAN I FILE A RETURN IF I AM A DEPENDENT?

If you can be claimed as a dependent on your parents’ return, you can still file your own return so that you can receive a refund of taxes withheld.  Your W-2 will show federal tax withheld in box 2, and state tax withheld in box 17.  (You will not get back anything for Social Security or Medicare withheld.) Be sure that on your own return you say that you can be claimed as a dependent on someone else’s return.

[Hal_Al]

There are two types of dependents, "Qualifying Children"(QC) and Other ("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 are excluded from the support calculation
3. He lived with the parent (including temporary absences such as away at school) for more than half the year

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.

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

It further depends on how you paid for all your own schooling.  Scholarships are not treated as the student supporting himself.  If your parents co-signed a student loan, then that loan money is considered as coming from them, not you. 

Then it depends on what you are trying to accomplish by claiming that you support yourself. 

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. 

If you want to claim the education credit, be aware that there's a new urban myth among college students that says they can get a $1000 from the government just for filing a tax form. For most of them, they simply aren't eligible. A full time unmarried student, under age 24, even if you don't qualify as a dependent, is only eligible for the refundable portion of the American Opportunity Credit if he supports himself by working. You cannot be supporting yourself on parental support, 529 plans or student loans & grants. It is usually best if the parent claims that credit.                                                        

Reference: Line 7 instructions for form 8863.

https://www.irs.gov/instructions/i8863#en_US_2024_publink53002gd0e674