<p>So, I am having some issues understanding something. I want to declare myself independent in my income taxes, in order to get some money back because my step dad does not help me with not one cent; so I find it very unfair that he should get back money that I should be getting back, since they are for my financial aid loans which I will have to pay back in a future as well, since my family will definitely not be paying it back. I know it is possible to declare my own taxes and what not, as long as my family doesn't declare me; however, my question is how will this affect my financial aid? because I know it is very hard for them to let me declare myself independent since I am not 24, do not have any children, or am married etc. So, what happens when filling out my fasfa then?do I just still use my family's taxes even if they don't declare my?
Thank you so much for any help in advance!</p>
<p>That’s correct. Your eligibility for need-based financial aid will still be determined using their income tax return, even if they do not claim you as a dependent.</p>
<p>Are you truly independent from your parents? Are they truly not paying for half of your needs? What did they spend on you last year? Are you covered by their insurance, sleep in their home, eat meals with them and did they pay for anything of yours? Did you pay for all of your college with grants. loans and your work proceeds? </p>
<p>Before you start declaring yourself independent and insisting on your tax exemptions, understand that if they just refuse to give any of their financial info to you for FAFSA and college aid purposed, it will seriously crimp your financial aid prospects. All you can get in such a situation is unsubsidized Stafford loans. It might be penny wise but pound foolish to wage this sort of battle with them.</p>
<p>Generally, to receive a tax refund, you need to have paid in more money (and/or be entitled to tax credits) than the total of your tax liability. How much did you earn this year (what is the total earnings in Box 1 of your W-2)? Have you calculated your income taxes with and without your dependency exemption? Maybe it makes little or no difference.</p>
<p>I am not sure how the tax credits work for education. My understanding was that if a student COULD be declared as an dependent on someone else’s return, he cannot get that credit whether he was so declared or not. How this works in reality, I don’t know. But sometimes parents feel they have been providing three meals and a cot, sundries, insurance, gifts, clothing, etc to a point where they may be miffed when the student declares himself independent for tax purposes wanting the exemption for himself and maybe thinking that the college tax credit should also be his. Parents may take the stance that he is no longer entitled to the tax information if he 's going to be this way, and that includes for FAFSA as well.</p>
<p>As Madison points out, it is possible you don’t have to pay taxes anyways, so taking your exemptions may not give you anything. How much did you make in 2012? Did you even make enough to have to pay taxes? You can file for return of withholdings even as a dependent on someone else’s returns, and that will go to you, not to them.</p>
<p>Do look at Annoying Dad’s explanation in this thread: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1455374-parents-tax-deduction-tuition-books.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1455374-parents-tax-deduction-tuition-books.html</a> Without the AOC, would it be worth it for you to be filing taxes on your own?</p>
<p>Your best bet would be to discuss this with the parents who are custodial for the FAFSA, and find out if the will give you the AOC money for your college expenses. That is what we do. The AOC we get back is applied directly toward the college kid’s next batch of bills. I wouldn’t dream of using that money for fun stuff.</p>
<p>Hey guys thank you so much for all your replies because I really have no idea how any of this works. This post was made mainly for my boyfriend, although I was curious of it myself. thing is in both of our situations our parents don’t help with anything AT ALL. in my case my parents are divorced and my mom doesn’t make a lot of money so she can’t help me even if she wanted to; and as for my dad who does make a lot of money, he doesn’t help me either. they would give me money if I needed it but I would pay it back regardless, my mom because I would want to return it since she would need it and my dad because he would want me to pay it back. all my finances are paid by my grants, loans, scholarship, part-time job, and babysitting; needless to say I work more than I would want to because I NEED to be able to pay to live; which is why I was curious about this issue as well. however, I spoke my mom and she said she would give me some taxes this year that she gets back for me, I guess because she feels bad that she hasn’t been doing it for the past two years that I have been on my own.
my boyfriend on the other hand has a mom who doesn’t work because she goes to school so his step-dad is the one who files taxes and pretty much has the last word. he also doesn’t get any help at all, not even if he needed it and would agree to pay it back; his step-dad is just not that great of a guy to say the least and his mom can’t really do much about it, especially since she doesn’t work its not like she can give him money out of her own pocket. he lives off of loans, since his step-dad makes way too much money for him to get any grants, like me, and he also lives off of a part-time job and we moved in together in order to try and survive better. so really we don’t know what to do because his step-dad won’t be giving him any money from the taxes, even though he is declaring him as a dependent and he is not and he is declaring his loans as well and getting money for that which my boyfriend will be the one to have to pay for in a future, not his step-dad. so honestly, I do not know what to do. my manager said he could declare himself independent for taxes purposes, but as mentioned by a few of you his step-dad might decide to not provide him with the tax return info which would be bad for him in the long run. its just a sticky situation and it sucks because we are not 24 years old and it is really ridiculous that we have to be that old to be considered “independent” even though we already are.
any more suggestions would be great</p>
<p>also it might be helpful for you guys to know we are 22, and have been living on our own since two years ago, so we literally pay for EVERYTHING ourselves.</p>
<p>Yes, Happymom, many of us do this, or it just goes into what we pay. But the OP may be getting little or nothing from his parents. He may have a full ride or close enough to it that, they truly are not paying for him. But he does have to look at that carefull. Does he EVER eat there? Does he EVER get any money, gifts, clothes, food from there? DOes he sleep there, store his things there? Is he covered under their insurance? Though there may be others that have contributed more to his welfare than his parents, there is the existing relationship that the law has set forth that give them first dibs on declaring him as a dependent without having to go through support test just through the virtue of his age, being in college and that he is their (step)son. So AOC rules are that if the parents CAN declare him, then the kid doesn’t get the tax credit. In return, the kid gets their financial information so he is eligible for aid.</p>
<p>The answer to eating there ,storing things and what not are a no. he doesn’t live anywhere near and no for insurance. and gift I mean for Christmas and birthday but seriously its not like that is supporting. anyone can give a gift on a special occasion
and as for financial aid, his step-dad makes too much money for him to get grants so he is getting only loans that HE will have to pay for in a future while his step-dad is benefiting from, so I’m sorry I don’t think that is the way it should be</p>
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<p>There certainly is a support test for claiming someone as a qualifying child and from what the OP has posted, there doesn’t seem anyway that it is being met.</p>
<p>Maybe not. I’m not a tax specialist, but for someone who qualifies as the child, under 24 and going to college, the support part is pretty easy, isn’t it? Not like a qualifying relative.</p>
<p>The problem is that pulling that rug out from stepdad and mom, could mean the end of FAFSA cooperation regardless. For College students the whole 1/2 support is not scrutinized. I think the young man could force the issue but it could be a phyrrhic victory</p>
<p>In order for the boyfriend to be considered a qualifying child, all four test (age, residency, relationship and support) must be met. In this situation at least one test fails (support, not sure about residency), so the step dad should not be claiming OP’s boyfriend as dependent. OP’s boyfriend should file his taxes prior to his step dad, otherwise they will be a problem with electronic filing.</p>
<p>"Support Test (To Be a Qualifying Child)
To meet this test, the child cannot have provided
more than half of his or her own support for
the year</p>
<p>Example. You provided $4,000 toward
your 16 year old
son’s support for the year. He
has a part time
job and provided $6,000 to his
own support. He provided more than half of his
own support for the year. He is not your qualifying
child."</p>
<p>From Pub 501. </p>
<p>The OP and BF aren’t even living at home for 2 years. I don’t see how any parent here can legally claim them as dependents, regardless if the parents throw a hissy fit and won’t cooperate.</p>
<p>Hey guys, I really appreciate all the feedback with this. We are going to go and speak with a tax specialist, as well as the school’s Financial aid ASAP to see what they say about the matter as well and see what we can do with this. Obviously I do not want it to cause a problem with his FASFA loans if he does pursue with claiming himself independent in his own taxes. I guess in the end if we need to, we will just have to suck it up for the next 2-3 years :/</p>