I originally had that I can be claimed on someone else's return, but my return was accepted and not rejected. I wanted to know what are the rules for my situation. If you are a Turbo Tax expert please help!
Ask her. You were too old and earned too much to be anyone's dependent. You should not have said that you could be a dependent because you could not.
Older than age 23 and more than $4,200 total income is the cutoff for being 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.
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.
As others have said, you cannot be a QC since you are over age 23. To be a standard dependent, your income must be under $4200.
See full rules at: https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tools/tax-tips/Family/Rules-for-Claiming-a-Dependent-on-Your-Tax-Return/INF12139.html
With the tax law change, effective 2018, most students will have the same tax liability whether they claim themselves or not. The personal exemption has been eliminated and the standard deduction increased. However, you only qualify for an education credit or deduction, if you are not a dependent.
For older college students who want the education credits, they must not file as a dependent.
If your return was Accepted and you said someone could claim you - that doesn't mean they did claim you. The only time it would Reject is if you said nobody could claim you but someone did.
A grad student with only $9000 of income would not get any benefit from a tuition credit or deduction. But being over 24 and having a W-2 would get you about $475 of Earned Income credit (EIC or EITC) if you were not claimed as a dependent.
Look at your form 1040, at standard deduction, to see if you checked the someone can claim you as a dependent box.