I'm a full time student in New York during the school year, and I live in Massachusetts as a dependent of my parents. I've earned $500 as a teacher's assistant out of state (NY) this year and I have a paying internship in state (MA) this year. Trying to understand the tax return guidelines is quite difficult, as I'm pretty new to the work force and I have a bit of a predicament with my earnings for the internship.
I read online that in order to qualify for the full-time student tax exemption, my earnings can't exceed $6,350. (I'm not entirely sure if that's accurate or how well I understood the article) So I'm wondering, right now if I'm approaching that $6,350 mark and I still have a few weeks left of income, should I put in my upcoming hours as volunteer work to avoid the 30% blow to my income?
Edit: It looks like that threshold is actually $12,000 in 2018 and is based on the standard deduction: https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/when-does-your-child-have-file-tax-return.html
Source for $6,350: https://studentaffairs.jhu.edu/studentemployment/student-information/handbook/tax-information/exempt-maryland-federal-withholding/