I am having a similar problem with my college son who earned $2500 as a research assistant over the summer doing the same research that he received a wage for during the school year. The school year payments were recorded on a W-2 where only state taxes were deducted, but the summer research payment was included in a 1099-MISC of which no taxes were deducted. Following these steps, he is still generating a tax due. His taxable income is approximately $4000 but the standard deduction is only $3800 which is generating a $49 tax due. It seems that he is being punished because he can be claimed as a dependent on by taxes. The summer research payment is now also generating social security and medicare taxes due since none were deducted at that time. Is this what should be happening?
