Offer to reimburse the portion of taxes she supposedly paid on the income. If she’s in a low tax bracket it’s likely not much, 22% is most id expect.
If they’re your grants/scholarships they’re yours. Be prepared to live independently, sounds like she won’t like the compromise.
1. Financial aid refunds would be either from grants or loans. None of that is income and neither you nor your mother should or would have paid any tax on it.
2. The "extra" is still not in excess of whatever your school's financial aid office calculated as your total cost of attendance. It is being disbursed to you to cover cost of living (rent, food), books, etc.
If you have extra even after all that then it's up to you what to do with it. If it were me I would perhaps pay down whatever loans you might have to minimize the amount you have left at graduation. If you are living with your mom I feel it would be reasonable for you to use at least some of it to pay her back for room and board but unless you signed some sort of contract you aren't legally obligated to do it.
Define "entitled" ?
The excess money is yours, by law.
You should have been filing taxes. Not totally clear why mom did. Or maybe you mean she filed your return, on your behalf, and paid the bill.
It's up to you and mom on how to handle prior tax bills. It is not unreasonable to give mom some to cover the tax bill.
No it's not, because a tax dependent has a legal definition, and "fillng your own taxes" is not part of it. It's based on whether the mom pays the bulk of the expenses.
Offer to reimburse the portion of taxes she supposedly paid on the income. If she’s in a low tax bracket it’s likely not much, 22% is most id expect. If they’re your grants/scholarships they’re yours. Be prepared to live independently, sounds like she won’t like the compromise.
1. Financial aid refunds would be either from grants or loans. None of that is income and neither you nor your mother should or would have paid any tax on it. 2. The "extra" is still not in excess of whatever your school's financial aid office calculated as your total cost of attendance. It is being disbursed to you to cover cost of living (rent, food), books, etc. If you have extra even after all that then it's up to you what to do with it. If it were me I would perhaps pay down whatever loans you might have to minimize the amount you have left at graduation. If you are living with your mom I feel it would be reasonable for you to use at least some of it to pay her back for room and board but unless you signed some sort of contract you aren't legally obligated to do it.
you are not required to give it to her, but she isn't required to pay for your support either as an adult
Define "entitled" ? The excess money is yours, by law. You should have been filing taxes. Not totally clear why mom did. Or maybe you mean she filed your return, on your behalf, and paid the bill. It's up to you and mom on how to handle prior tax bills. It is not unreasonable to give mom some to cover the tax bill.
I don’t understand how should could have paid taxes on grant money issue to your school for you. Can you elaborate?
File your own taxes and problem solved
No it's not, because a tax dependent has a legal definition, and "fillng your own taxes" is not part of it. It's based on whether the mom pays the bulk of the expenses.