Federal law requires all employers to send employees W-2 statements no matter how low their earnings or wages are. If they legitimately told him he "did not qualify for a W-2", the $12,000 threshold doesn't apply to him. He MUST file a return. The IRS will consider his undocumented income to be self-employment.
This previous TT answer explains how to file such income in TurboTax: <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="
https://ttlc.intuit.com/questions/3853005-as-self-employed-with-no-1099-do-i-report-as-1099misc-or-b...>
**Answers are correct to the best of my ability but do not constitute tax or legal advice.
