worth amending 2020 return? removing dependent?

Forum|Forum|5 years ago
May 8, 2021
3 replies
33 views

Hello, we just filed 2020 with 2 dependents. Older daughter is a full time college student and she made $2k last summer. Doing her return in Turbotax, I see she would be eligible for stimulus money is no one else claimed her as dependent. May be late as I filed already our tax return and IRS accepted it 2 days ago. Continuing her return I can see that she would get close to $2K (stimulus plus state refund). By removing her as dependent, I can see that our liability jumped by $1k.

So, looks like it would be better not to claim her as dependent and pay $1k more, while she would get close to $2k by not being claimed by us.

Anyone faced similar situation?

Thanks a lot!

Not A Product Question

Best answer by xmasbaby0

The problem with that approach to your return and your daughter's return is that it involves encouraging your daughter to file incorrectly and fraudulently. She is a full-time student who is 20 years old and she did not support herself on her income of $2000 in 2020. She CAN be claimed as a dependent. The rule is that if a person CAN be claimed they are supposed to say on their own return that they can be claimed (even if the person who can claim them does not end up claiming them).

Dependents are not eligible to receive stimulus checks. If you want her to get some stimulus money, maybe you should share the $1400 you get for claiming her on your own return.

For your daughter:

https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/dependents/help/when-do-i-have-to-answer-yes-to-being-claimed-as-a-dependent/00/1994319

xmasbaby0

Answer

Level 15

Dependents are not eligible to receive stimulus checks. If you want her to get some stimulus money, maybe you should share the $1400 you get for claiming her on your own return.

For your daughter:

https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/dependents/help/when-do-i-have-to-answer-yes-to-being-claimed-as-a-dependent/00/1994319

**Disclaimer: Every effort has been made to offer the most correct information possible. The poster disclaims any legal responsibility for the accuracy of the information that is contained in this post.**

vw4motion1Author

Level 2

Thanks a lot for responding! Given what I learned here (in your response and in the link you provided), I definitely will not bother filing amended return. Had no idea about the "CAN" part so thanks a lot again!

xmasbaby0

Level 15

@vw4motion1 Yay---smart choice. Many people have been overcome by the temptation to have their kids try to get the stimulus checks. But we do not know how aggressive the IRS might be in the future about reviewing the stimulus money sent out to students, etc. and the last thing you want to do to your child is set her up for trouble with the IRS someday.