Yes he has to file a return for it. Be sure on his return he checks the box that says he can be claimed on someone else's return. It's under My Info.
1099NEC is self employment income and you HAVE to file it on Schedule C and pay self employment tax on it. The SE tax is to pay both the Social Security and Medicare tax that wasn't taken out like on a W2 job.
You can enter Self Employment Income into Online Deluxe but if you have any expenses you will have to upgrade to the Premium version. Or use any of the Desktop CD/Download programs.
How to enter income from Self Employment
https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/self-employed/help/how-do-i-report-income-from-self-employment/00/...
