Question:

Can my parents refile their taxes to claim me independent?

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I haven't lived with my parents since high school and I'm currently a Junior in college. I need more money for school and they don't provide for me anymore in the least. I was wondering if there is ANYTHING I can do? They claimed me as dependent, which is in-fact false, is there anything I can do or do I have to convince them to refile their taxes claiming me independent?

In addition, will I be eligible for the 2008 tax return checks? How long will refiling taxes take so that I can get more FASFA loan money? (My girlfriends loans doubled from FASFA when they claimed her independent).

Also, my school doesn't allow me to get in-state tuition if I am claimed dependent and my parents don't live in the state that I go to school in, so this would make me eligible for in-state tuition.

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  1. If you have already filed, then there is no way you're going to get the rebate check--even if both you and your parents amended their returns. This is because the rebate is always based on the original return. If you haven't filed, then mail (don't e-file) and the IRS will be forced to determine if you qualify to claim yourself.  


  2. If you can show that you paid for over half of your own support (scholarships and grants do not count), then you can file your taxes and claim your own exemption.  If your parents have claimed your exemption, they will have to amend their return before the IRS accepts your return.  Once the IRS accepts your return, you may qualify for a rebate.

    If you have already filed your own tax return and not claimed your own exemption, you can amend your return (after your parents have amended their return) and possibly increase your tax refund.  However you will not receive a rebate this year because that is based on your original return.

    Any rebate amount you did not receive this year, you may qualify for next year on your 2008 tax return.  


  3. FASFA is pretty smart.  For students under the age of 24, the FASFA rules will consider you to be dependent even if you file your taxes and claim your own exemption.  There are few exceptions (married, armed forced veteran, parents dead).  Being emancipated isn't enough.

    As for whether or not your parents can claim you, have you done the support test in IRS publication 501?  If you supported yourself (loans count, scholarships don't), then they can't claim you and you should have claimed yourself.  If you claimed yourself and made $14750 or more of income, you may have gotten the $600 rebate.

  4. If you are sure that you are not their dependent, file a return yourself, by U.S. mail (not electronically), and claim yourself on it.  The IRS will (eventually) notice that you were claimed on both your return and your parents' return and will look into this.  If the IRS determine that you were not their dependent, you may receive the rebate check (eventually) and they will amend/change your parents tax return to remove you from the list of their dependents.

  5. Did you file a tax return claiming an exemption for yourself?  This would get the IRS involved in determining whether or not your parents are eligible to claim you.

  6. Your parents dont claim you independent. They just dont take the dependent exemption. You can file your taxes as you feel is appropiate for you. When the IRS gets it they will see that both you and your parents claimed you. They will investigate and give you the exemption. Your parents will have to redo their taxes, pay monies back if they got a refund. If you you qualify for the stimulus payment this must be done prior to Oct. 15

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