What is considered living income?

[jmgandy12]

I've paid for all of my rent, school, food, ect, but my family has paid things like health insurance, car insurance, cell phone bill.  Does that count as paying for more than half of my living expense?

[Carl]

It's not just paying your own expenses that matters here. It's paying those expenses with taxable in come that "you" physically earned during the same tax year you paid those expenses. Things like scholarships, grants, 529 funds, gifts from Aunt Mary, etc, do NOT count as you providing your own support.

So if you're a college student and only have say (for example) $6000 of earned taxable income for the year, there's no way you provided more than half of your own support with just $6000 of earned taxable income.