Hello, I am currently a 19-year old undergrad going into my sophomore year at a 4-year university this fall. I’d like to know if I can claim myself as an independent on both my taxes and the FASFA (for the next school year, not this upcoming one). I heard that claiming yourself as an independent on taxes vs. the FASFA are two different matters, so what is the difference?
My qualifications are that I am a self-supporting student and pay the entirety of my rent, utilities, gas, groceries, textbooks, car tags, etc. I’ve been living away from home since the beginning of my freshman year. I have a full-ride scholarship that covers tuition plus some and have received zero support from the FASFA for both the last school year and this upcoming year. My parents pay for my health insurance, car insurance, and phone bill, but I wouldn’t consider that to be more than half of my expenses when you consider how expensive rent and tuition is.
If I can claim myself as independent on the FASFA, I’m sure I would get financial aid from them for once, so I’m asking you all to help me figure out if I’m eligible or not.
You can’t claim independent for FAFSA.
There are only a few ways to claim independent.
- Serve in the military
- Have a child
- Be married
- Be 24 years of age of older.
As for taxes, I don’t know what you mean by independent. But you can file taxes as long as you have a job paying over $500. You can choose to file your taxes alone or your parents can claim you on their taxes.
Agree with Belknap Point. You are not independent for FAFSA purposes simply because you support yourself. Even if your parents didn’t give you a cent, you would not be independent in the absence of special circumstances. To be independent, you’d need to be one of the following:
24 years of age or older by December 31 of the award year;
An orphan or ward of the court or was a ward of the court until the individual reached the age of 18;
A veteran of the Armed Forces of the United States
A graduate or professional student;
Married;
Have legal dependents other than a spouse; or
A student for whom a financial aid administrator makes a documented determination of independence by reason of other unusual circumstances.
As for taxes, scholarships are not included in determining support, so you would have to provide half your support without regard to the scholarships.
Yes, since your parents are providing health ins, car ins and phone bill they can probably still claim you as a dependent on their taxes if their support is more than you contribute towards your own support.
There is a support worksheet from the IRS that can be filled out to determine who provides more of the support.
I think it asks how much the student contributed to their support from earnings, savings or loans. Scholarships are not able to count towards your support.
Also any scholarships that exceed tuition, fees and books (or pay for living expenses) are taxable income and need to be reported on your tax return.