No! Your 17 year old should not "claim herself"! She should be saying on her own return that she can be claimed as a dependent on someone else's return. If she claims her own exemption your own e-file is going to be rejected when you try to file. Then she will have to amend her return--a process that will take months and possibly require her to re-pay some of her refund.
MY DEPENDENT HAD A JOB
If your dependent has a W-2 for his after-school job, summer job, etc. you do not include the information on your own return. You can still claim your child as a dependent on your own return. He/she can file his own return for a refund of some of his withheld wages (he won’t get back anything for Social Security or Medicare), but MUST indicate on it that he can be claimed as a dependent on someone else’s return. (Supervise this closely or prepare it for him!)
If your dependent’s earnings were over $400 and were reported on a 1099Misc then he must file a return and pay self-employment tax for Social Security and Medicare. You may want to use this version of TT for that:
https://turbotax.intuit.com/taxfreedom/
**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.**
