My student made a minimal amount of money last year (less than $2,500), and we claim him as a dependent. What does he need to do or watch out for when he files taxes? I assume he will get back the amount they took out in taxes, since he made so little money.
Answer has 2 parts, but be sure to check with IRS or CPA to verify… (1) Your son CAN file a tax return if you claim his as a dependent, (2) Your son didn’t make enough requiring him to file a tax return.
If you are questioning a college’s request for student tax returns, there is a form to complete: Student Non-Tax Filer.
Hope that helps.
Agreeing with phoenixmomof2, your child needs to make somewhere around $6000 (check irs.gov for exact number) before he is required to file. In our case, DD has scholarships that cover room and board and that means she is not only required to file, but will also have to make estimated payments.
It should take him about 10 minutes to do his taxes if he’s a dependent and made that little. I recommend just using a free software online (Turbotax, H&R Block, etc).
The kid can fill out taxes, but not claim himself as a deduction. The parents claim him as their deduction.
^^^ I recommend something like TurboTax (the free edition). It will step you though the process (including asking the student if anyone claimed them as a dependent). If they had any federal income tax withheld (box #2 on the W-2 form), then it may be worth it. If not, there isn’t any point.
If any of his earnings are unearned (investment income for example) he will have to pay taxes on it at your rate. The nasty truth of the kiddie tax. But yes, he should get any withheld from earned income back.
He is the most simple case. Worked in food service for the summer, and can get a couple hundred bucks back if he files. But I wanted to make sure we didn’t need to include his income in our return, for example. I will just tell him to do the simple turbotax option, and not claim himself. Thanks, this is just what I needed, but with a quick search online I wasn’t having much success.
You claim him as a dependent on your return and you get his $3950 exemption. He checks the box on his return saying he can be claimed as a dependent on someone else’s return. He doesn’t get his exemption but gets a standard deduction of the amount of earned income plus $350. The max standard deduction for someone who can be claimed as a dependent on someone else’s return is $6200. Given what you say he earned and if there is no significant unearned income he will owe no tax and will get his withholding back as a refund.
If he’s a college student it would be you, the parents who would take the AOTC education credit if there are qualified education expenses.
ETA after seeing your post: Only investment income can ever be included on a parent’s return and then only if the all income a child has is investment income.
For future reference - have him complete a W4 with no withholding (exempt) for a summer job so that he does not have to file a tax return to get withheld amount refunded. Only do this if you know his annual income will be under the $6000 (?) limit where you are not required to file a tax return. My younger son worked as a camp counselor last summer and that is what we did so that he did not have to file at all.
I heard from a Tax return guy that, for those who do NOT get their health insurance from the marketplace (e.g., they got their private insurance from their company), they do not need to provide the evidence this year (using the inform in some form he will receive by the insurance company only in the next tax reporting year. He may not receive this form this year.) However, if they got the health insurance from their “marketplace” (e.g., federal or state-sponsored exchanges) and had received government’s subsidize, they need to fill out an additional new tax return form (I forgot the form’s name.)
That is, ACA starts to give someone some “headache” depending on where that person has got his/her health insurance last year.
mcat, if the family has gotten family insurance through the marketplace, that would have nothing to do with the dependent child’s tax returns.
And, as someone who had to fill out that form, it was easy. Just copied info from the form they gave me onto the online form for taxes. Took about 3 minutes.
I think my child does not bother to file his tax return due to the lack of income. He got his insurance from his school, not from an exchange (he might be qualified for medicaid as his state is quite progressive, I think.)
He is no longer our dependent and is not on our health insurance plan. He mostly lives on his loans and need-based scholarship. (I actually do not know how/whether he deals with his tax returns any more. No time for such a conversation.)
Rockvillemom, he did what you suggest the summer before, but somehow didn’t do that this last summer. He didn’t even have the money go to his account, just to something like a debit card. But at least he worked… He continues to learn. Thanks