Regarding claiming my son as a dependent.

[Ravi Ammamuthu]

Hello There, We are filing jointly with an income of > 150K. I would like to know if I will get any tax credit if I claim my son who is a full-time student as a dependent.

1) He is a full time student and supported him for the whole year

2) He lived with me for the whole year. 

3) He met the criteria to be claimed as a dependent

4) He is 22 years of age

When I entered the details for him, I did not see any reduction in the tax that I owe so wondering what kind of deductions or credits I am eligible for. I am asking this question to find out if I am making any mistakes in filing.

I was expecting some tax credit hence the question. Please let me know if any additional details are needed

[xmasbaby0]

If your child is older than 16 you get the $500 credit for other dependents--it is on line 19 of your Form 1040.  It is non-refundable---it reduces tax you owe.  And if he is a full-time student claimed as your dependent , you can enter the education credit on your own tax return.

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1901172-what-are-education-tax-credits

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/3262983-who-is-eligible-to-take-the-american-opportunity-tax-credi...

AOC will be shown on line 29 of your Form 1040

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/3383321-why-didn-t-i-get-a-credit-or-deduction-for-education-expen...

https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/1901526-what-s-the-income-limit-for-the-american-opportunity-and-l...

https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/credits-and-deductions/help/what-expenses-qualify-for-the-lifetime...

[Vanessa A]

Based on the information you provided regarding your son, he would qualify as a Qualifying Relative  which allows you to claim the $500 Non-Refundable Other Dependent Credit.

If you are not seeing any change in your refund, this is likely because you have no tax liability on line 24 of your 1040 already. Since the Other Dependent Credit is a nonrefundable credits, this will only lower your tax liability to $0.  It will not result in additional refunds of money you did not pay in. 

You can look at the first page of your 1040 where it says Dependent to see if there is a check mark in the box for Credit for Other Deps. If it does, that means you did everything right.

On the menu bar on the left that shows. 

1. Select Tax Tools 
2. On the drop-down select Tools 
3. On the pop-up menu 
4. Select View Tax Summary 
5. On the left sidebar, select Preview my 1040 

If you are using Desktop version, you can just switch to forms mode to see your 1040.

[Ravi Ammamuthu]

Hi There, Thank you so much. I do see that my son has been selected for the Credit for other depts. I do see the line 24 that has the taxes and in fact i do owe the tax back. So wondering why my tax due did not go down. Any help is appreciated

Regards,

Ravi

[Vanessa A]

You probably didn't see any change in your tax due because you entered your son on your return prior to entering your income.  So once you entered any income, the $500 Other Dependent Credit was already a part of the calculation of what you owed.  Therefore, you would not see a change.  If you entered your son after you entered your income, then you would see a change.

If you would go back and delete your son, you would see the tax due go up by $500.  

[Ravi Ammamuthu]

Hi There, Thanks. It is a very good point. Unfortunately, I did not add my son to start with. I have added him only after completing the entire tax including the income , deductions, etc section. BTW, I am looking at FORM 1040 line 19, Child credit or credit for other dependents.. It does not have any money , it is just a blank

[Vanessa A]

Do you have other numbers from line 16 to line 24?  Do you owe Self-Employment taxes as the amount due?  The Other Dependent Credit cannot offset SE tax which would be found on line 23.

If the SE tax is not what is causing you to owe, then go back to your personal info section and walk back through the questions regarding your son.  

Are you using the desktop version or the online version?

[Ravi Ammamuthu]

Hello There, Thank you. Yes , I do see the entries from line 16 through 23 expect for line 19 which I mentioned already. Yes, I do see an amount in line 23 for SE Tax. Then I don't understand how the SE Tax is preventing this credit for me? Please elaborate

Also, the SE tax per schedule 1, form 8959 ( medicare tax) and 8960 (from investments) shows it is also including medicare tax. Why the SE tax include the medicare tax that I need to pay though?

[Vanessa A]

Is line 23 equal to line 24?  

What is on line 16?  If line 16 is $0, then your are not getting the credit for your son because you did not have a tax liability for the Other Dependent credit to reduce.  When you have a nonrefundable credits, if you do not have taxes to reduce you cannot get the credit.  

Your SE tax which is 15.3% of your income is your Medicare and Social Security tax that you pay as an independent contractor or sole proprietor is not able to be reduced by credits as these payments go to SSA and Medicare instead of in the lump sum pot with the rest of your taxes.  If you were an employee, then your SS and Medicare taxes would be half of the 15.3% because your employer would be paying the other half, but since you don't have an employer to pay the other half, you have to pay the entire amount.  

You do get a 50% credit for paying this, but the amount on line 23 cannot be reduced by credits for your dependents. 

Self Employment Taxes

The Self Employment Tax

[Ravi Ammamuthu]

Thank you. Line 23 and 24 are not equal. Line 16 is not 0 as well. I am employed and not a contractor.  50% of the tax that I pay for medicare and social sec should not be considered as self employment tax which will stop the credit for me. However, I do have INT and DIV close to $550. Is that considered as self-employment investment and can that cause this ?

[DawnC]

No, interest and dividends are not self-employment income, so that is not the problem.   No amount on Line 23 can be reduced by child tax credits.   The amount on Line 23 comes from Schedule 2 - those taxes can't be reduced by the child credit.  

What is on Line 18?   Is it more than $500?

What is on Line 19?   I believe you said 0, but I want to confirm.

[Ravi Ammamuthu]

Hello, 

Line 23 do the amount which comes from schedule 2. They are not nothing but the tax amount derived from medicare tax and investment

Line 18 do the tax amount calculated for this year

Line 19 - blank

[Ravi Ammamuthu]

Also line 18 > $500

[DawnC · Accepted solution]

If Line 18 is over $500 and there is nothing on Line 19, your dependent is not qualifying for the credit or your income is too high.   Review your entry, try deleting your dependent and re-adding them.   Also, what is on Line 11?   That is your AGI.  The credit is $500 per qualifying dependent as long as the adjusted gross income (AGI) doesn’t exceed $200,000 ($400,000 if filing jointly). The credit goes down $50 for every $1,000 that the AGI exceeds the $200,000/$400,000 limit.

Verify your dependent meets the requirement here.