<prompt> Human: My dad has filed me as a dependent my whole life. I have not lived with him since I was 18. He currently lives in Ohio and is recently retired, I am in Illinois. The only help I receive from him is I am still on his health insurance plan. I am a full time college student, in my final year of undergrad. My loans are all in my name. His information IS included on my fafsa strictly because he keeps claiming me. He does not contribute anything to my education costs. If its of any help, my student loans are roughly 4000 a year, I pay 4000 out of pocket a year to cover what loans wont. I make about 14,000 a year. Last year, my dad mailed me a check for about 400 for my tax return. I feel like he is cheating me. I cannot get any more money for school because I am a dependent of my father, although he contributes nothing to the costs. I live on my own and I am barely scraping by. My question is, do I start a family feud for a few hundred bucks? He says by filing me as dependent I am helping him out, but I feel its hurting me. I am definitely not a finance major, so any insight will be greatly appreciated!Assistant: Fill out a form 1040-EZ once you get your W-2 and determine what your refund would be if you filed on your own. Tell him you expect that much from him, otherwise youre filing on your own.Human: What is a 1040-ez form? Would I do that online?Assistant: Its the super basic version of the 1040, the primary form you fill out to file your taxes. Didnt you ever do your taxes for your summer jobs during high school?Human: No, my father has always filed them. He doesnt allow me to do them. He takes my w2s to the tax guy he has been going to for 15 years and thats always been that. I dont even open the envelope they come in. Assistant: He takes my w2sBad idea, you should be doing your own taxes. Its free and easy to do online.Human: What benefit is he getting from doing my taxes though? He gripes that it costs him more to have them done than I get in return. So Im not understanding why he is so adamant about doing them.  <response>: Honestly, you have no idea how much he is benefiting because you dont know what he is putting on your tax returns. At the very least you know that he is fraudulently claiming you as a dependent to get a 4000 deduction personal exemption, as well as a 2950 higher standard deduction for fraudulently filing as head of household instead of single assuming your dad is single and has no other dependents. If his marginal tax rate is 25, he is making at least 1700 a year by doing this. You are missing out on a lot of money here. You can file your own taxes for free and claim deductions and credits for your education expenses. The fact that you havent been doing this while youve been in college is a big problem. When I was in college and working, I would get tax refunds of up to 2000. 