Question

[Woodywoop]

Can I claim my own taxes as a 17 year old self employed with out parents??

[xmasbaby0]

Please explain exactly what you mean by"without parents."   Do you literally not have any parents?   Who do you live with?   Does anyone else help to support you?

[Carl]

If self-employed and you have more than $400 of self-employment income, you are required to file a tax return. Your age or dependency status does not matter.

However, you need to explain the "without parents" thing, because that will have an impact on what tax credits you may or may not qualify for.

[Woodywoop]

My mom has been saying she has to file my taxes under her name an I do have parents but I don’t not live with them I live on my own with my girlfriend grandma..

[VolvoGirl]

No your mom doesn't need to.   You have to file your own return if you have income no matter how young you are, even if someone claims you as a dependent.   But if you live with someone else for the whole year and you made less than 4,300 total income then they can probably claim you even if they are not related to you.   So if you live with the Grandma maybe Grandma can claim you.  

Here are some rules if someone can claim you,

Who can you claim
https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/credits-and-deductions/help/who-can-i-claim-as-my-dependent/01/267...

See IRS Pub 501 starting on page 10 bottom Dependents and Worksheet 2 page 15 for determining support,
https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p501.pdf

[Carl]

My mom has been saying she has to file my taxes under her name

That's not so, and I think you may have misunderstood her also. It's also likely she may be misinformed. your mom most likely is wanting to claim you as a dependent on her return, since you were under the age of 19 on Dec 31 of the tax year. But does she qualify to claim you? That is the question.

For your parents to claim you as their dependent, the requirements are in IRS Publication 17 at https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p17.pdf on page 27 under "Test to be a qualifying child".  All 5 rules must be true in order for your parents to claim you as a dependent.

Note that since you are under the age of 19 on Dec 31 of the tax year, the "qualifying relative" rules do not apply here. Also note that your earnings flat out do not matter under the qualifying child rules. You could have earned a million dollars and still qualify to be a dependent on your parent's tax return.

[xmasbaby0]

You have not told us how long ago you began living with your GF----most likely your mother can still claim you as a qualifying child dependent on her tax return.   If there are details that mean you have not lived with your parent for even half of 2021, then we would need to know about that.

 You can still file your own tax return but you need to say that you can be claimed as someone else's dependent.   Your income cannot be entered on a parent's income tax return.   But parents receive child-related credits for claiming you as a dependent, and they will want to get those credits.

You say that you had self-employment income.  That means you have to pay self employment tax if you made at least $400 in 2021.   You pay that for Social Security and Medicare.

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/2926899-how-does-my-side-job-affect-my-taxes

https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/self-employed/help/how-do-i-report-income-from-self-employment/00/...

https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/self-employed/help/what-is-the-self-employment-tax/00/25922

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/2902389-why-am-i-paying-self-employment-tax

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1901340-where-do-i-enter-schedule-c

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/3398950-what-self-employed-expenses-can-i-deduct

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1901110-do-i-need-to-make-estimated-tax-payments-to-the-irs

  To avoid paying the expensive fee to use online Self-Employed software, you should wait until later in January and try the free software that will be available on the IRS site:

https://apps.irs.gov/app/freeFile/

[xmasbaby0]

Here are the rules---if you are "mom" do you think you can claim your child??

WHO CAN I CLAIM AS A DEPENDENT?

You can claim a child, relative, friend, or fiancé (etc.) as a dependent on your 2021 taxes as long as they meet the following requirements:

Qualifying child

• They're related to you.
• They aren't claimed as a dependent by someone else.
• They're a U.S. citizen, resident alien, national, or a Canadian or Mexican resident.
• They aren’t filing a joint return with their spouse.
• They're under the age of 19 (or 24 for full-time students).
• No age limit for permanently and totally disabled children.
• They lived with you for more than half the year (exceptions apply).
• They didn't provide more than half of their own support for the year.

Qualifying relative

• They don't have to be related to you (despite the name).
• They aren't claimed as a dependent by someone else.
• They're a U.S. citizen, resident alien, national, or a Canadian or Mexican resident.
• They aren’t filing a joint return with their spouse.
• They lived with you the entire year (exceptions apply).
• They made less than $4,350 in 2021.
• You provided more than half of their financial support.

When you add someone as a dependent, we'll ask a series of questions to make sure you can claim them. There may be other tax benefits you can get when you claim a dependent.

Related Information:

• What does "financially support another person" mean?
• What is a "qualifying person" for Head of Household?
• Does a dependent for 2020 have to live with me?
• Do I qualify for Head of Household in 2020?
• Can I claim myself or my spouse as a dependent?