<prompt> Human: Extra info to add is that birth father is not involved in my sons life. I made around 5,000. Ive herd its not about how much youve made, but I cant find a clear answer on if I can or cannot. My friend got back around 4200 for her child on tax returns but its hard for me to believe I could get back anything.  <response>: In order to be able to claim your son as a qualifying child dependent, you have to first determine if you can be claimed as a dependent of another taxpayer. Publication 17 chapter 3 has the list of tests for figuring out if anyone can claim you as a qualifying child or as a qualifying relative.If it turns out that you can be claimed as a dependent, its possible that the person who can claim you might also have your son as a qualifying child dependent. So we really would need more information to guide in answering this question. How old are you? Were you a student for 5 months in 2017? Did you live with anyone who helped provided you with support during 2017, such as parents or relatives? How long? If you look at all the costs of your support lodging, food, utilities, clothing, travel, education, medical, etc., did you provide more than half or did other sources provide more than half?The reason that its important to find out if you can be claimed as a dependent is if you cannot be claimed as a dependent, then you may be able to get Earned Income Credit with 1 qualifying child, and that might send you money even if your income tax is zero. 