Hal_Al
Level 15

Education

When did you move out and where di you move to and why? And how long to you plan to be there and do you intend to return to your parent's home.  Living off campus is still considered a temporary absence from your parent's home. 

 

Even if  your living situation qualifies as not living with your parents for more than half the year (the residence test), you still haven't provided enough information to answer your question "Am I a dependent?"

 

There are two types of dependents, "Qualifying Children"(QC) and standard ("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. Only a QC qualifies a taxpayer for the Earned Income Credit and the Child Tax Credit. They are interrelated but the rules are different for each.

The support test is different for each type. The support test, for a QC, is only that the child didn't provide more than half his own support. The support test for a Qualifying Relative is that the taxpayer provided more than half the relative's support.

The support value of the home, provided by the parent, while you did live with them, 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