Amend a previous tax return because Educational credit not included

[Sgiraldo2025]

I am an undergraduate student, and in my 2023 tax return, I mistakenly checked the box stating that ‘Someone can claim you as a dependent.’ However, I was not a dependent since my parents live outside the U.S. and do not file U.S. taxes.

I had $2K in wages and $19K in taxable scholarship income (excess over qualified expenses). Because I filed as a dependent, I did not claim the AOTC and paid $728 in federal taxes.

If I amend my return to correct my dependency status, can I claim the nonrefundable AOTC and recover the $728 I paid?  I am aware that I could not get the refundable part of the AOTC because I do not qualify for that.

[JohnB5677]

Yes, you can recover the $724 and possibly more.  

• The Refundable amount is calculated on line 24 of your 1040 taxes.
• That number can not be less than $728.

How do I amend my federal tax return for a prior year?

[Bsch4477]

Since your scholarship was more than your qualified education expenses you would not get any credit. 

[Sgiraldo2025]

Thanks, but what if I reallocate 4k from the scholarship to room & board?

[Bsch4477]

You can do that to see if the tax on the extra scholarship income is outweighed by the credit. 

[NCperson]

@Sgiraldo2025 are you an American citizen or here on a student visa?

if on a student visa, you are not eligible for AOTC. 

if your parents (and you) are US citizens, then they are required to file a US tax return, even if there is no income in the US.  So it is not logical that just because they live outside the US, therefore they do not file a tax return and therefore they do not claim you.  If they are US citizens, they are required to file and it is possible they did in fact claim you.  

Further, even if you were eligible for AOTC, it would depend on whether your scholarships are restricted or unrestricted in their use. 

The restricted scholarships MUST be netted against the Qualified Educational Expenses (QEE).  Once that step occurs, there must be at least $4,000 of QEE remaining for your strategy to work. 

From what you have posted, there isn't necessarily enough information to determine whether your strategy would work. 

[Sgiraldo2025]

No student visa, US citizen. Parents non US citizens. Have at least 4k in Pell Grant, which I think can be allocated to room &board. Thanks.

[NCperson]

@Sgiraldo2025 still may not work - it depends.  

Example: 

QEE = $10,000

Scholarships = $29,000 ($8,000 are restricted, $21,000 are unrestricted).  The Pell grant is part of the $21,000.

you must net the QEE against the Restricted scholarships FIRST. 

In that case, The $8,000 of restricted scholarships are netted against the $10,000 of QEE.   

What remains is $2000 of QEE and $21,000 of unrestricted scholarships.  Since there is only $2,000 of QEE remaining, that is the only expense eligible for AOTC.  The fact that there is $4,000 of Pell is immaterial. 

The key to your strategy is to determine how much of the scholarships are restricted versus unrestricted.  Just having $4,000 of Pell grants is NOT the right criteria.