<p>If my taxable scholarship is more than $5,700,</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Should I report my own federal tax return?</p></li>
<li><p>Should I report my state tax to "resident state" or "college state" ?</p></li>
<li><p>Can my parent claim me as a dependent on their own return?</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Please help.</p>
<p>There are additional variables to consider that would have me suggest you / your parents speak to an accountant. In our case, my son had taxable scholarship earnings plus self-employment earning and specific only to our case we were advised that we should file him separately, in which case he was not a dependent.
Dependency for tax purposes depends on whether your parents contributed more than 50% to your support over the tax year, or whether you essentially self-supported. Most accountants will run the scenarios a few different ways to arrive at the best way to file for everyone involved.</p>
<p>Thank you kmcmom13 for the answer, I have another question for the 50% support.</p>
<ul>
<li>What’s the base to count 50%? Does it include the scholarship received? I am confused if all my support includes only like travel, supply etc. or also the tuition and fee included?</li>
</ul>
<p>
I am puzzled by this post. You can claim a student as a dependent and the student can still file their own return. If the student files their own return they get the single persons standard deduction of $5700. If they can not be claimed as a dependent on someone else’s return they can also get their personal exemption of $3650. If they can be claimed by someone else then they can not get the personal exemption but the person claiming them takes a deduction for a dependent which is the same amount of $3650.</p>
<p>Cookie4college - Scholarship monies are not counted in the calculation of whether you provided more than half your own support. If your total income is over $5700 then you should file your own return. If all your income is earned income (scholarship income is treated as earned income for this purpose) you will get the standard deduction of $5700. This means you will pay no taxes on the first $5700. Even if you file your own return your parents can still claim you as a dependent (as long as you have not provided more than 50% of your own support). </p>
<p>In addition to the standard deduction on a tax return there is an exemption of $3650. If a person takes the exemption for themselves it is called a personal exemption. But if a person can be claimed by someone else as a dependent then they can not take the personal exemption for themselves. Instead the person who claims them as a dependent takes the exemption, and it is then called a dependent exemption.</p>
<p>Swimcatsmom – his earnings when counting his self-employment together with excess taxable scholarship, were substantial, so in this case, it could not be argued that we a) contributed more to his support and b) since he was paying a SE tax and had no withholdings needed to optimize his deductions to minimize his tax. The acct. ran it both ways. That was why I said it really needs to be assessed by the acct. on a case by case basis. Did not intend to imply that filing his own taxes precluded being claimed as a dependent.</p>