I need advice on what I should do. I am 22 years old, and I just filed my 2019 taxes, but did not claim myself thinking that if my mom claimed me it would help me with getting financial aid based on her income. Due to this, I did not receive any IL state income tax withheld in my return. If my mom does not claim me, should I ammend my return to file as independent and would I then receive my state tax withheld in my return? I only made around $9,000 in 2019, so I'm wondering if it would benefit more to claim myself. Thanks
You'll need to sign in or create an account to connect with an expert.
If your mom is entitled to claim you then she should. If she filed without claiming you and you filed as indepenent, you will both need to amend your returns.
She did not file yet, what would entitle her to claim me? Should I just tell her not to claim me because I live on my own and just ammend my return when i am able to? Or should she claim me anyways since I am still her child and am considered a dependent based on my federal financial aid?
Here are the rules to claim a qualifying person. Your financial aid really doesn't play into it as far as the IRS is concerned. As I said, if you meet these qualifications and she can claim you, she should.
Qualifying Child
Relationship — the taxpayer’s child or stepchild (whether by blood or adoption), foster child, sibling or step-sibling, or a descendant of one of these.
Residence — has the same principal residence as the taxpayer for more than half the tax year. Exceptions apply, in certain cases, for children of divorced or separated parents, kidnapped children, temporary absences, and for children who were born or died during the year.
Age — must be under the age of 19 at the end of the tax year, or under the age of 24 if a full-time student for at least five months of the year, or be permanently and totally disabled at any time during the year.
Support — did not provide more than one-half of his/her own support for the year.
[Edited 2/8/2020|4:28PM EST]
Would she get penalized if she didnt claim me? And would I receive more money if I claimed myself? Thank you for all of the help though. What's the benefit for her claiming me? Just that she would get an extra exception? And so since I am her son, she can claim me based on that as long as I am under 24?
Just like @ColeenD3 stated above, your mom can claim you if you are under 24, IF you are a full-time student for at least 5 months of the year or if you are permanently disabled. Otherwise, you should have claimed yourself.
If you were not a full time student or disabled in 2019, you should file an amended return.
You won't be able to amend your tax return until the IRS releases the 1040-X Amendment form for 2019. The IRS estimate for issuing the 1040X form is mid February.
Additionally, make sure that your 2019 return was accepted in TurboTax Online or paper-filed through the mail.
To prepare an amended return through TurboTax, follow these steps:
Thank you for the advice. If I only made $9,000 for 2019, would amending my taxes cause me to lose more on my return or gain more? I was reading into it and if you claim yourself for IL you would usually get more in state returns as opposed to me getting $0 back from submitting that someone else can claim me. Is this correct? Just wondering if you think I would get more money back in my return if I ammend and claim myself or have to pay back some. Thanks
There are a lot of factors that go into calculating your refund/tax liability, and without actually seeing your return, we can not definitely advise on how amending will affect you. However, if you are eligible to be claimed as a dependent on someone else's return, you have to disclose that in the My Info section of TurboTax--regardless of how it will impact your refund.
Here are the requirements to be claimed as a dependent:
There are two types of dependents, each subject to different rules.
For both types of dependents, you’ll need to answer the following questions to determine if you can claim them.
Dependent taxpayer test: The taxpayer, or spouse of the taxpayer if filing jointly, cannot be eligible to be claimed as a dependent on someone else’s tax return.
Married Filing Jointly test: If you file a joint return with your spouse, you cannot be treated as a dependent. (This rule does not apply if the joint return was filed only as a claim for refund and no tax liability would exist for either spouse if they had filed separate returns).
Citizen or resident test: The person claimed as a dependent must be either a U.S. citizen, U.S. national, U.S. resident alien, or a resident of Canada or Mexico. An adopted child that lived with the taxpayer all year passes this test if the taxpayer is a U.S. citizen or U.S. national.
Qualifying Child
In addition to the above, you must be able to answer "yes" to all of the following questions to claim an exemption for your child.
Relationship test: The child must be the taxpayer’s son, daughter, stepchild, foster child, brother, sister, stepbrother, stepsister, half brother, half sister, or a descendant of any of these, such as the taxpayer’s grandchild, niece, or nephew.
Residency test: The child must have lived with the taxpayer for more than half of 2019.
Age test: The child must be
• Under age 19 at the end of the tax year and younger than the taxpayer (or spouse), or
• Under age 24 at the end of 2019, a full-time student for any part of five calendar months during the tax year, and younger than the taxpayer (or spouse), or
• Permanently and totally disabled at any age
Support Test: The child cannot have provided more than 1/2 of his/her own support during the tax year. Welfare, TANF, and scholarships received by the child are not considered support.
Qualifying Relative
Relationship or Member of Household Test: To be considered a qualifying relative, a person must be:
Not a Qualifying Child Test: The relative cannot be a qualifying child of any other taxpayer for the year.
Gross Income Test: The relative's gross income must be less than $4200 for the year. Gross income is all income that is not tax-exempt. Examples of gross income include taxable Social Security benefits, taxable unemployment compensation, and certain scholarships and fellowships (i.e., monies used to pay higher education expenses other than tuition, fees, supplies, books, and course-required equipment).
Support Test: The taxpayer must have provided over 1/2 of the relative's support during the year. This test does not apply to persons who qualify as dependents under the children of divorced or separated parents rule and multiple support agreements.
Still have questions?
Questions are answered within a few hours on average.
Post a Question*Must create login to post
Ask questions and learn more about your taxes and finances.
Howard424
Level 2
thomas_callahan
Level 1
kyraamrine99
New Member
Missesc
Level 2
anon88
Returning Member