<prompt> Human: My mom made around 32-37k total in 2015 in wages and self-employment income. Im a full-time college student, and I made around 31k. I used my income to pay for rent 5500, tuition 3000 ish, groceries, etc. Throughout the year, my mom gifted me 2750 to help me with expenses.Since my expenses are much more than double what my mom gave me, it seems like she cant pass the support test. EDIT: Unless health insurance premiums take this over the edge?I want to let my mom claim me as a dependent though because:1. She has a pretty low income and a high mortgage payment. Claiming myself would reduce her return and harm her financial situation. I dont know by how much, but I would feel bad. It would be like taking money from her.2. The people that do her taxes some CPA firm say that Im her dependent because Im a full-time student. They said the income doesnt matter. She doesnt actually talk to the accountant though, just the staff trained to do returns. I think theyre wrong, but its hard to argue against that.3. I get a 1098-T from my school that gives some education credit. If I had a choice, I dont know whose tax return it would be better to use it on. Maybe it nets more money to use it on the larger income person.4. If the 2750 my mom gave me doesnt even count as support, then its essentially wasted because it didnt help her earn a tax break.5. The definition of support is very subjective and has no supporting documentation submitted to the IRS unlike wages and such. Im guessing this means the IRS would never know.What should I do? Im miles away from my mom, and it would feel terrible to persuade her to tell the firm about the support test. Id essentially make her decrease her own return by doing that. Is it okay to just not claim myself?  <response>: Youre basically asking folks here to give you permission to file incorrectly both you and your mother, and then to compound that by having her take the education expenses tax credit.The people that do her taxes some CPA firm say that Im her dependent because Im a full-time student. They said the income doesnt matter. She doesnt actually talk to the accountant though, just the staff trained to do returns. I think theyre wrong, but its hard to argue against that.Its pretty easy to argue against that. The CPA firms staff is not following the IRSs definition of dependent qualifying child, or at least skirting the issue. When they said income doesnt matter they are stating something that is true: how much you earn isnt relevant. But the amount you provide for support for yourself being greater than half your support does matter. Have you filled out Worksheet 3-1 in Pub 17 to see what the amounts in various categories really add up to? Its not entirely subjective. But there is an other line. I dont know how feasible it is in your situation to make it all add up to suggest you paid less than half. Youd have to be pretty creative about that other line, and Im not sure you would have anything to back it up. Edit: Insurance premiums do count as support provided by others. That could be a significant amount.Claiming myself would reduce her return and harm her financial situation.Yes, filing fraudulently would net her more money and you less money.Why dont you just both file correctly, and if you are really bothered by this situation, take the resulting benefit about 600 saved because of claiming 4000 exemption at 15 bracket, plus the value of the education tax credit that you take advantage of -- dont know how much this is and gift it to her? That would result in the same financial outcome but also not involve signing your returns knowing theyre not true, correct, and complete. 