Take a moment to consider the following: As college students, there are individual tax issues to be aware of. Let's assume that James is a full-time college student pursuing his degree in Accounting. James does not receive any financial assistance whatsoever from his parents. He also has worked at a part-time job and earned $15,000 during the year. James has questions about the following:

1) Provided that James does not receive any financial assistance from his parents, what is his current status as a dependent? And if he can claim himself on his own tax return, what is that amount currently?

2) What are some tax deductions that James can claim on his individual tax return? The IRS has a couple of different publications on its own website that you may reference; if you choose to do so, please cite your sources.