GeorgesT may be making assumptions about your situation that could be wrong. HEre's the scoop.
First, I assume you were *NOT* over the age of 23 on Dec 31 of the tax year.
If the student was:
- Under the age of 24 on Dec 31 of the tax year and;
- Was enrolled as a full time student for ANY ONE SEMESTER that started in the tax year and;
- was an undergraduate student on Jan 1 of the tax year, and;
- Was enrolled in an accredited institution and;
- Was enrolled in a program that would lead to a degree or certification, and;
- The "STUDENT" did NOT provide MORE than 50% of THE STUDENT'S OWN SUPPORT (Scholarships, grants, 529 funds, gifts from Aunt Mary, etc. ***do not count*** for the student providing their own support.) then;
The parents qualify to claim the student as a dependent on the parent's tax return. Period.
Some things to note about the above.
- There is NO requirement for the parents to provide the student with *any* support. Not One Single Penny. The support requirement is on the student.
- The student's earnings do not matter. The student could earn a million dollars during the tax year, and the parents can still qualify to claim the student as a dependent on the parent's tax return.
Now in your particular case you stated, "We still live under one roof the whole 2017, but I provide for myself"
Most likely, you do not pay your parent's rent or mortgage payment, and you do not pay for the utilities you use (water, electricity, etc.). So that is support that *you* do not provide yourself. It's also probable that you don't do your own grocery shopping either, and that your three meals a day come from your parent's shopping trip where they pay for the groceries.
Anyway, you can see where I'm going with this. THe main thing to be aware of is that if you were under the age of 24 on Dec 31 of the tax year, then your earnings flat out do NOT matter.
Oh also, there's a requirement for you to have been enrolled for at least 5 months of the tax year. If you graduated on May 1, then the entire month of May counts as one of those 5 months. I see no problem with your parent's qualifying to claim you.
Understand that if your parents *qualify* to claim you, then it doesn't matter if they claim you or not. *You* have to select the option for "I can be claimed on someone else's return".
Therefore I would suggest that if they qualify, let them claim you as a dependent. But understand that if you do that, then that severely limits what you can claim on the education front. For example, you can not claim/deduct the interest on the 1098-E. But your parents can. So if you want to help them out on their taxes for 2017, you should also go ahead and let them claim all the education stuff for 2017 also.
I do want to re-iterate however, that all the above is based on the assumption that your parents do "in fact" qualify to claim you.
