There are two questions in TurboTax. The first question is, “can you be claimed as a dependent by another tax?“ If you can be claimed, you must answer yes, even if you don’t want to be claimed; answering yes to this question will disqualify you from a stimulus rebate. Answering no to this question to get a rebate, if you do qualify to be claimed, would constitute tax fraud.
There is a second question, “will the person who can claim you actually claim you?” This question only affects your eligibility for the American opportunity tax credit. In most cases, if a child can be claimed as a dependent, they should be claimed by their parents and their parents will claim the American opportunity tax credit. In a few cases if the parents have very high income in our disqualified, and the student has substantial income earned from working, then it may be to the family‘s advantage for the child to indicate that they will not be claimed.
If you are age 19 and live at home, the only way that you would not qualify to be claimed as a dependent is if you earn so much money from working or from investments that you provide more than half your own financial support, including room and board, tuition, medical expenses, travel and entertainment, clothing, etc. this is not impossible but is rare. If you can be claimed as a dependent, you must answer yes, and you are not eligible for the credit.
