Parents claimed me

[Bcolon2025]

I am 19 years old, working full time, and a full time online student. My parents claimed me on their taxes this year even though I feel like I pay for more than half of my own needs. I live in their house but I pay for my car insurance, my gas, my own groceries, my own phone and internet, even my own laundry goods. They do not have a house payment, only yearly property taxes, electric, and water. electric and water together don't cost anymore than $400 combined. They don't pay for health insurance as its free through the state. I bring in $4,000 a month and pay for all of my bills entirely on my own and even lending them money from time to time. They claimed me as a dependent but did not claim my income. I changed my settings last year to take extra money out for state taxes and I claim zero. From my understanding, this means I cannot file as independent and will most likely end up owing money like I did the year before as well. I received my W2 late in the mail so my parents were able to file before me. Is there anyway for me to file as independent and not get rejected? If my parents got extra money for claiming me, they are not going to send any of it my way and they will not be willing to file an amendment on their taxes. 

[xmasbaby0]

Th only thing your parents can "get" for claiming you as a dependent is a $500 credit for other dependents---which is a non-refundable credit that can reduce tax they owe.

And...you may fit the criteria to be claimed if you are a full-time student.  That means that on your own tax return you need to say that someone else can claim you.   Your refund will not be affected by this.   Your refund--or tax due--will be the result of whether you had too much or too little tax withheld from your paychecks.   The one issue is whether you pay for over half your own support.   Use the support test below.

WHO CAN I CLAIM AS A DEPENDENT?

You can claim a child, relative, friend, or fiancé (etc.) as a dependent on your 2024 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 $5050 in 2024 (not counting Social Security)
• 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?

[SusanY1]

If your parents have already claimed you, there won't be any way for you to electronically file your tax return unless you mark that you were claimed as a dependent.  

It isn't likely that you will see a big difference in the amount of your refund or tax due filing with or without that indicator, unless you were hoping to claim refundable education credits.  

If you believe that you meet the criteria for providing more than half of your own support and don't want to indicate that you are a dependent, then you can print your return and file it by mail.  

If you file by mail and indicate that you are not a dependent you and your parents will receive letters from the IRS later in the year asking for support of the position on the return.  It may not be worth this headache, even if you do save a few dollars of tax.  However, that is the route to take if you wish to pursue the dependency issue.

[xmasbaby0]

I did not mention education credits in my reply since you said you are an online student---and we cannot know if the school you are using meets the standards to get an education credit.  You can check here:

To see if a school is eligible to take education credits

Enter your school at the link below, to see if it's on the dept. of education list.

https://www.savingforcollege.com/eligible-institutions