Whether or not your child must file depends on the facts and circumstances.
For example, is the $5,600 earned or unearned income (both can show up on the 1099-MISC)?
"Earned income" is from labor - "salaries, wages, tips, professional fees, and taxable scholarship and fellowship grant". "Unearned income" is income that is not earned, such as "taxable interest, ordinary dividends, capital gain distributions, unemployment compensation, taxable social security benefits, pensions, annuities, and distributions of unearned income from a trust."
Generally, your dependent must file a return if any of the following are true:
- The child’s earned income is more than $6,300 (all numbers here are for 2016)
- The child’s unearned income is more than $1,050
- The child income from self-employment (usually found on box 7 of the 1099-MISC) is more than $400
- The child’s gross income was more than the larger of (a) $1,050 or (b) earned income (up to $5,950) plus $350
See the full set of requirements at Table 1-2 at IRS Publication 17. and Table 1-3.
Note that if the child is not required to file under the above rules, but there was federal tax withheld (box 2 on the W-2), then s(he) may want to file anyway, to get the withholding refunded.
[Edited 02.02.17 | 2:55 PST]
[Edited 4/2/2020 3:12 pm CDT - typo]
