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As far as U.S. taxes are concerned, you are not a dependent. The question is not always asked with precision, but the question is really whether you can be claimed as a dependent by another taxpayer. Your parents are not U.S. taxpayers, and they are not required to file a U.S. tax return, so even if they support you, you should not say that you can be claimed as a dependent. You said you are trying "to use a free tax filing software." Are you using TurboTax or some other software? This is the TurboTax support community. If you are not using TurboTax, we can give you only very limited general advice. We cannot help you with other software. If you are trying to use TurboTax Online Free Edition, it can only be used for very simple tax returns. Your situation as a full-time student with no income from working may require things that Free Edition does not support. If you are not working, why are you filing a tax return at all? Do you have income other than from working, such as from investments or taxable scholarship income? If you don't have any income there is no reason to file a tax return. There is an old urban legend that a college student can get $1,000 just for filing a tax return, but it's not true. If you do not have any income from working, you are not going to get any money. You can use Do I Need to File a Tax Return? on the IRS web site to see if you are required to file a tax return. Your descriptions of the questions you are being asked are somewhat vague and imprecise. If you need further help to answer specific questions in TurboTax, please post the exact wording of the question, and what topic or section of TurboTax it is in. Also tell us your age at the end of the year that you are filing for.  

@kinzierajon  Since Online TurboTax has now switched to a new tax year, here's a more detailed answer that will tell you how to get a full menu to appear in order to get to the Tax Home page to get your prior returns.   This answer assumes your previous returns were prepared in Online TurboTax.   Any return prepared in desktop TurboTax will not be in an Online account.  Here's how one would normally find past-year online returns and how to troubleshoot for multiple accounts (User IDs) if necessary.  Many people end up with more than 1 account.  The pathway to download the PDF or tax data file depends on whether or not you have started an online 2025 return.  I provide both scenarios below, so choose which one is appropriate for your situation.   If you have not yet started a 2025 online return: Sign in to your account.   What you see next depends on whether or not you have already started a 2025 return in that account.   If your left column menu is minimal, and does not have a Tax Home tab displayed, that would imply you have not started preparing a 2025 return in that account.  If you haven't yet started a return, it will start asking you some questions.  Answer those preliminary questions on a few screens (you don't actually have to prepare a return), and then when you are far enough into the process, the left menu column will change, and you'll then see a Tax Home option in the left menu column.  Do not click the Documents tab.  Instead, click on Tax Home.  Then on the Tax Home screen, scroll way down to the bottom to "Your Tax Returns & Documents".  Expand that section and choose the past year you want.   If your past returns are not shown there, then you likely have multiple accounts and signed into the wrong one.  I'll tell you below how to troubleshoot.   If you have already started a 2025 online return: Log in, and if you've already started a 2025 return in that account, then it may already open at the Tax Home.  If not, click the Tax Home tab in the left column menu.  Do not use the Documents tab.  At the Tax Home scroll down and expand "Your Tax Returns & Documents."   If the past returns are not there, see the steps below.   If you do all that and can't find the past return, here's how to look for multiple accounts: You can have up to 5 accounts that use the same email address for notification purposes.  A User ID may be an email address, but it doesn't have to be.  It might be only part of an email address, or it can be anything at all.   To get a list of your User IDs, reset password, and recover account access, etc., you can use the tool at the link below.  When using the Account Recovery tool, try using your phone number first if you can still access it.   After that, if necessary, then run the tool on your email address(es) you can access. NOTE: Before running the account recovery tool below, log out of all Intuit accounts including this user forum, or you might end up in a loop.  Then clear your browser Internet cache, close your browser, then reopen it, and go to the link below.  You may wish to copy this link so you can paste it into the new browser session. https://myturbotax.intuit.com/account-recovery If still no luck after running that on your phone number you can still access and email address(es) that you can access,  here's another method:          Go back to the tool again, but this time leave the data field blank, scroll down a bit, then choose the small blue link that says "Try something else", and it will look you up by other parameters.

People keep asking if Turbo Tax personal versions will run on Windows 10 with the security extension.  NO.  The requirements say Windows 11.   The separate Business program will run on Win 10 for 1 more year, but not  the Home & Business version.     For 2025 you will need Windows 11 or later or Mac OS Sonoma 14 or later (newer). Click on the 2025 tab at the top. https://turbotax.intuit.com/personal-taxes/cd-download/tta-system-requirements