@mwarner907 The phone support agent is correct in telling you that you are "able to put my child's 1099misc. on my return for AK PFD as long as it is less than $10,500." However, the only advantage of reporting the income on the parent's return is that it's less paperwork. It will not save any tax, and in many cases you could end up paying more tax overall than if you file a separate return for the child. Publication 17 has a long list of reasons that reporting the income on the parent's return could result in paying more tax. See "Effect of Making the Election" on page 201. So the safest course is to file a separate return for the child. You will probably be better off that way, and certainly no worse off.
If you have more questions about this, please post a new question of your own. Do not continue the discussion of your child's Alaska PFD here. As VolvoGirl said, the original question in this thread from three years ago has nothing to do with the Alaska PFD.
