What should i do if i was dependednt and i claimed independent on my tax return?

Question

I am 19 and I claimed independent on my taxes thinking I could. I was living with my parents for about 9 months out of the year. I wanted to try to get financial aid for college, but my parents made too much. They claimed me and now they owe IRS $2,000.00. They want me to file a 1040X and I don't know what that is nor do I know if I will have any extra charges that i will have to pay on top of all of this. If anyone has any advice please help me out.

Thanks,

Kristina

Answer 1

If you are a typical 19 year old college student, you probably did not make enough money that claiming your own exemption even helped you.  So if you file that amendment (the Form 1040-X) that your parents say to, it probably won't cost you any additional taxes, but it will allow them to claim you and save them a bunch.

You just need to go to http://www.irs.gov/ and download Form 1040-X and print it and fill it out and send it in.  When you fill it out, you will need your original 1040 series form (probably 1040-EZ in your case) to refer to in order to get some of the numbers you will need.

And don't forget your state.  Any time you amend a federal return, your state is notified so they will be expecting an amendment as well.  You can go to your state's revenue department web site and download their version of a form to amend a return.  They will use the word "amendment" and it will probably have a "-X" to copy the name of the federal amendment form.

It is a lot easier than it sounds and it will save a lot of money for your parents.  And it is technically legally required since you are not entitled to your exemption while your parents are still supporting you.

Answer 2

Your question is too vague and missing lots of info.

Basically, since you're in college and most likely supported by your parents, they (your parents) have the right to claim you as a dependent on their tax return.

Since you filed first and claimed yourself as a dependent, your parents now no longer can claim you as a dependent which means that your parents (may have) lost a dependency exemption for you on their return. The exemption generally lowers taxable income. Now, if your parents are make a lot of money, the exemption may be phased out but it appears that this is not the case or else they would not have asked you to file Form 1040X.

Form 1040X is an amended federal return which is basically a summary of changes that state why you're amending (i.e. correcting) your tax return.

Generally, once a dependent claims oneself on his/her return, the parents would have a difficult time claiming that child on their return, even after amending the return.

You may want to discuss with your parents beforehand about tax filings to avoid this in the future, or at least until you graduate which is the time allowed for your parents to claim you as a dependent (i.e. full-time students under the age of 24).

Answer 3

If they can legally claim you, and it sounds like they can, then you aren't allowed to claim yourself even if they DIDN'T claim you.  Yes you'll have to file a 1040X and drop the claim to your exemption.  It might or might not result in your owing money, depending on how much you make.

Answer 4

Something doesn't quite make sense.

If you are 19 and a full-time college student, you are their dependent, and it doesn't really matter how you filed your return,if anyone gets in trouble, it will be you (if it didn't make a difference, the IRS probably won't contact you).

If you weren't a college student when the return was filed, and you made over a certain amount ($3400 in 2007), your parents can't claim you, again no matter how you filed.

You filed correctly if you weren't a full time student, as far as I can see. And, if you do an amended return, it still doesn't entitle your parents to claim you.

Answer 5

The publication 501 test hinges on whether or not you supported yourself.  Your parents say you didn't, your tax return says you did.

You can fill out the support test worksheet in that publication to make the determination as to who is right.

If you made a lot of money and paid for tuition with personal loans that *you* have to pay back, then yes, maybe you were dependent.

If you made very little money and used financial aid to pay for school, you probably didn't.

To do the 1040x, go to irs.gov, print one out.

Start on page 2, line 25.

line 25.  1  (1)  0

line 29.  1  (1)  0

line 30. 3400 (3400) 0

line 32 3400 (3400) 0

Then page 1.

1.  your income   0    your income

2   $5350            ?    ?

3.  subtract 2 from 1

4.  $3400    (3400)  0

5.  subtract 4 from 3, stop at zero.

etc.

If you had more than $5350 in wages, you get $5350 in standard deduction, but then you owe tax and have to pay it back.

If you had less than $5350 in wages (and less than $300 in investment income), you don't get $5350 in standard deduction, but you won't owe tax.  This requires you to do a formula to get the new standard deduction for line 2.

The standard deduction ranges from a minimum of $850 to $5350.  You add $300 to your wages to get the amount in the middle.

Eg, wages $2500, standard deduction would be $2800.