If you file on your own, you may qualify for an education credit if you provided half of your own support and met the other requirements. You will need to add up your living expenses and see if your income was enough to cover half. If it is, keep this calculation for your records.
If your mother qualifies to claim you as a dependent, you still file your own tax return and just not claim yourself. This means that you do not receive an exemption for yourself.
Here are some guidelines to help you determine who can and should claim you and if you qualify to an education credit:
If there are qualified education expenses for you during a tax
year, either you, or whoever is claiming you as a dependent, but not both of you, can claim an American
opportunity credit or lifetime learning credit for your expenses for that
year.
If someone claims an exemption for you on their tax return, then
only they are able to claim the credit based on your expenses. They would treat
any expenses paid (or deemed paid) by you as if they had paid them
themselves. They would include these expenses when figuring the amount of
your credit. And you, as her dependent, wouldn’t be able to claim the
credit.
If no one else claims you as an exemption, then only you can
claim credit, and your parent can't claim the credit based on your expenses.
There are
additional rules for each credit, but you must meet all three of the following for both:
- You, your dependent or a
third party pays qualified education expenses for higher education.
- An eligible student must be enrolled at an eligible
educational institution.
- The
eligible student is yourself, your spouse or a dependent you list on your
tax return.
Click on this link for more: Am I Eligible to Claim an Education
Credit?
Also, you will have to check to see if your mother qualifies to claim you:
https://ttlc.intuit.com/replies/5187060
