Can my parents claim me as a dependent if I'm married and filed jointly?

The joint return test is one of the dependency tests your parents need to meet to claim you. You're right that there's an exception - if you and your husband only filed jointly to get a refund of income tax withheld and would have had no tax liability if filing separately, then your parents might still be able to claim you. But there are several other tests that must also be met. Since you mentioned you didn't live with your parents at all last year, you would fail the residency test for a "qualifying child" dependent. For them to claim you as a "qualifying relative" instead, they would need to have provided more than half of your support, which you indicate they didn't. So based on what you've described - not living with them and providing more than half of your own support - your parents likely cannot claim you as a dependent, regardless of the joint return exception.

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Just to add another perspective - if you provided more than half of your own support and didn't live with your parents, they definitely can't claim you. The joint return test is just one of many tests that must be met. The IRS has a worksheet to determine "support" - did you pay for more than half of your housing, food, education, medical expenses, etc.? If yes, your parents can't claim you as a dependent, period.

My sister went through this EXACT situation last year! The tax preparer told her that because she filed jointly with her husband, her parents couldn't claim her - REGARDLESS of the "no tax liability" exception. Apparently, that exception is super rare in practice. The preparer said that once you're married and file jointly, 99% of the time you can't be claimed as a dependent. It's not worth the risk of an audit for your parents to try claiming you.