Filing 2023

[billmcse]

How do you add income from your 21 year old student to your tax return? I use the Deluxe version of turbotax, file as surviving widow and need to have my son on my tax return (Per the affordable care act). Where do I input his W2? I only see an option for my W2.

[TomD8]

You never enter your child's W-2 on your own tax return.  If his income exceeds the filing threshold for his status (or if he wants to claim a refund of withheld taxes), he must file his own return. 

You may still claim him as a dependent, if he qualifies.  If he qualifies as your dependent, be sure he indicates that on his own return.

For tax year 2022, the filing threshold for an unmarried dependent with W-2 income only is $12,950.

[billmcse]

That is what I thought, however I was told by someone on the phone after calling the IRS that because my son and I have a marketplace account/insurance that I had to file together so that when the taxes were filed they could assess total household income

[TomD8]

My previous answer is correct.  This website explains how to report income changes for purposes of marketplace insurance: https://www.healthcare.gov/reporting-changes/how-to-report-changes/ 

[rjs]

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@billmcse wrote:

That is what I thought, however I was told by someone on the phone after calling the IRS that because my son and I have a marketplace account/insurance that I had to file together so that when the taxes were filed they could assess total household income

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@billmcse 

You don't file together. After you enter your Form 1095-A, continue through the screens and read the questions carefully. If you are claiming your son as a dependent, it will ask you if you have a dependent who is filing his own tax return. When you check the box for that, it will ask you to enter his Modified Adjusted Gross Income (MAGI). That's how his income gets added into the total household income for the Marketplace insurance calculation. Click "Learn more" next to the box for MAGI for instructions to calculate his MAGI.