Can I file as an independent?

[mohabib]

Hello all : ) I've been looking for the answer to this question all over and have yet to find a clear and concise understanding of it. I'm a twenty-year-old full-time college student who lives with my mom and dad. I work multiple jobs and pay for just about every expense other than the housing. Car payment, insurance, gas, phone bill, food, health insurance. I was wondering if this would be enough to claim myself as an independent? I'm trying to recover the stimulus checks that I wasn't able to receive from last year due to being claimed by my parents. Thanks for everything in advance!

[macuser_22]

If you pay more then half of your own support for the year then you cannot be claimed.

Usually the largest support issue is housing and food.   If you live in your mothers home then she is supplying that.   If she owns the home then you fined the fail rental value of the home, cost of utilities and maintenance and divide by the number of occupants. 

See:

Pub 501 Worksheet 2 for determining support
https://www.irs.gov/publications/p501#en_US_2020_publink1000292527

[mohabib]

Awesome! Thank you for taking the time to reply. I was told by another user that if you lived in your mother/father's for more than half of the year while enrolled in school, income doesn't play a role. So now I'm conflicted haha.

[macuser_22]

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@mohabib wrote:

Awesome! Thank you for taking the time to reply. I was told by another user that if you lived in your mother/father's for more than half of the year while enrolled in school, income doesn't play a role. So now I'm conflicted haha.

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It depends on what you did with the income.   You could earn $100,000 and invest it all in stocks and zero would be counted as support.

---Tests To Be a Qualifying Child---
(Must pass ALL of these tests)

NOTE: If a child passes all of these tests he must say “yes” on his/her own tax return (if he/she files one) that another taxpayer CAN claim him/her as a dependent even if they DO NOT claim him/her)

1. The child must be your son, daughter, stepchild, foster child, brother, sister, half brother, half sister, stepbrother,stepsister, or a descendant of any of them.

2. The child must be (a) under age 19 at the end of 2020, (b) under age 24 at the end of 2020 and a full-time student* for any part of 5 months of 2020, or (c) any age if permanently and totally disabled and must be younger than you (or your spouse if filing jointly).

3. The child must have lived with you for more than half of the year (There are exceptions for temporary absences such as school, illness, business, vacation, military service).

4. The child must not have provided more than half of his or her own support for the year.
See Worksheet 3-1. Worksheet for Determining Support
https://www.irs.gov/publications/p17#en_US_2020_publink1000171012

5. If the child meets the rules to be a qualifying child of more than one person, you must be the person entitled to claim the child as a qualifying child.

6. The child is not filing a joint return.

7. The child must be a U.S. citizen, U.S. resident alien, U.S. national, or a resident of Canada or Mexico

*A full-time student is a student who is enrolled for the number of hours or courses the school considers to be full-time attendance during some part of each of any 5 calendar months of the year.

See IRS Publication 17 for more information.

https://www.irs.gov/publications/p17

[mohabib]

Thanks again for taking the time to respond. After reading through what you've said, I'm coming to the consensus that I have indeed provided more than half of my own support. Car payments, insurance, gas, phone bill, health insurance. Realistically, the only thing I didn't pay for was the home in which I reside with my mother and father. Just to reiterate, no one would be able to claim me, therefore, I would have to claim myself as an "independent"? Is this correct? Haha.