Filing Rules

• At the time of publication, f your earned income is over $5,700 in the tax year, your unearned income -- taxable interest and dividends -- is over $950 or you are self-employed and made over $400, you must file a tax return regardless of whether you can be claimed as a dependent on someone else's return. However, when you file, you cannot claim the exemption for yourself if someone else claims you as a dependent on his return.
  
  

Dependent Rules

• To claim a dependent, you must have provided more than half of the support for the person, she must be a qualifying child or relative, must be under age 19, or under age 24 and a full-time student. In most cases, the dependent must have lived with you for more than half the year. If your dependent did not provide more than half of her own support, she cannot claim the exemption for herself. You can claim her as a dependent, but she has to file her taxes if her income meets the IRS regulations.
  
  

Absences

• If your dependent is under 24, a full-time student, and is away at school, the IRS takes this into account when determining who can claim the child as a dependent. Though your child is away at school, the IRS considers this a temporary absence and it does not impact the test for the head of household exemption or dependency. Military service, vacations, illness and business are also included in the temporary absence due to special circumstances test.
  
  

Exemptions

• When you file your taxes, you are allowed to claim exemptions that, in 2010, reduce your income by $3,650 per exemption. You can claim two types of exemptions -- yourself and your spouse and your dependents. If you are entitled to claim your child as a dependent on your taxes, your child cannot claim the personal exemption on her own taxes. If you do not claim the exemption for your child but are entitled to the exemption because she meets the dependency test, she cannot claim the personal exemption on her taxes. If your child can be claimed by you as a dependent but has her own dependent, she cannot claim her dependent because she is claimed as yours. She must file her return if she wants a refund or meets the income requirement test.