<p>My mom and dad are divorced and pay taxes independently but both live with me. I am a dependent on my mom's taxes. However, my dad makes no money, and I made more money than him, so I am technically providing for him. How would I prove this and would it work?</p>
<p>If you live with both parents, I believe you need to list the income and assets of both parents on your FAFSA now.
NO you are not independent for financial aid purposes. Your parents tax filing status has NOTHING to do with this.</p>
<p>No it wouldn’t “work”. </p>
<p>You must establish your tax filing status before filing. Look at the definitions for tax status. If you provide the cost of care for an adult relative who lives with you, you might be head of household and take the exemption for yourself and for your father. Your mother might be independent for filing purposes. You CANNOT take an exemption for yourself (and thus qualify for hOH if your mother claims you). Figure out the best tax status taking everything into consideration.</p>
<p>FAFSA is different and you’ll have to figure that out reading those definitions, mostly likely if you are under 24 and working on a first degree, you are a dependent student and must list the income of the parent(s) you live with.</p>
<p>You would need to be paying more than half of someone’s support to have them as a dependent for tax purposes. And your income would need to support that. If your income is sufficient to support yourself AND your parent, it is very possible that your need based aid could be LESS. Remember, you need to support yourself and the dependent. Do you really do that?</p>
<p>Are you independent for FAFSA purposes? If you are age 24 or older, married, have at least one dependent, a veteran of the armed forces, a ward of the state or have other court ordered separation from parents (have to look at specific FAFSA stipulations), then you are not dependent. If you are somehow dependent on your mother’s taxes and age 24 or older, for example, then you are still independent for FAFSA purposes.Your father is your dependent if you are are able to declare his so on your tax forms. A lot of people are in fact dependent on others but are not so defined since they cannot be declared as dependent for tax purposes. My mother is as dependent as anyone on me–elderly, infirm, I take care of her, she lives with me, I provide for her above and beyond what her assets and income can, but she gets too much of a pension for me to be able to declare her as my dependent regardless of that fact that she is truly dependent on me. Also you cannot have a dependent for tax purposes if you are a dependent yourself, which you say you are–on your mother’s return. Look up the IRS laws on who is a dependent. </p>
<p>If you are not independent by FAFSA definitions, since you parents and you all live together, both your parents income and assets will have to be reported even though they are divorced and file taxes separately. Doesn’t matter if they are married anymore–if they live in the same home, they are both your parents, they both have to include their info. </p>