I filed 2019 tax return with my son as a dependent of mine.
I plan to file amend for him. Have him change his status to single (not a dependent) in order to take full advantage of American Opportunity Credit. So he will get additional refund. On the other hand, I should file amend for my return as well because the number of dependents drops and I will owe more tax.
my question is that whether I should file both amends at the same time? What if my son’s amend does not get accepted and then I end up paying extra taxes on my return? This status change will also have impact on our state tax returns. Should I only file my son’s amend to begin with? And then wait and see?
Thanks.
Does he able to support himself financially more than 50%? If yes, he can claim himself independently.
Then you both have to amend both of your returns.
If he "Cannot be claimed as a dependent on your return" because he provided more than 1/2 of his own support you both "MUST" amend. You can do it at the same time. You will need to figure out the support issue and provide it to support your amendments.
Here is a link to help you work the support numbers. Use worksheet 2.
Thanks for the posts. They answer part of my question.
We missed his 1098-T. He did two semesters of co-op that year. So we thought his scholarship was put on hold that year. It turns out the school issued him the scholarship in December for the following year January. The money he made from co-op and internship should cover more than 50% of his expenses. If I file amend for my son, he will get some tax refunded to him.
I am supposed to file amend for my tax return as well because the number of my dependents decreased. So I have to pay more tax. Does IRS want me to pay the tax I owe right away? If I pay the extra tax now but latter on my son’s amend is rejected, do I amend my amend at that point?
In your situation I would file both the amended returns at the same time and it would be best to include the additional tax. If you overpay they will refund the money.
If you just file one return it is possible they would reject the amended return(s) if the dependent shows up twice.
If they did reject the amended return then the IRS would send a clarifying letter and you would have to deal with another set of issues and a longer time frame.