I am filing a return on behalf of my 15yo who's 1099 was for $750. It's the only income they had in 2023. Is $119 the cheapest option?

[xmasbaby0]

MY DEPENDENT HAD A JOB

If your dependent has a W-2 for his after-school job, summer job, etc. you do not include the information on your own return. You can still claim your child as a dependent on your own return.  He/she can file his own return for a refund of some of his withheld wages (he won’t get back anything for Social Security or Medicare), but MUST indicate on it that he can be claimed as a dependent on someone else’s return.  (Supervise this closely or prepare it for him!)

If your dependent’s earnings were over $400 and were reported on a 1099Misc or 1099NEC then he must file a return and pay self-employment tax for Social Security and Medicare.

You might also want to use free software from the IRS Free File versions:

https://apps.irs.gov/app/freeFile/

[DianeW777]

It depends.  If the income was from self employment (Form 1099-NEC), then they must file a Schedule C for self employment.  This would allow her/him to use any expenses that were necessary to earn the money.  At the amount of income now, there could be social security and medicare taxes that must be paid, expenses could potentially eliminate that since the income is only $750.

If it is a W-2, you can definitely use a lower cost version of TurboTax Online, or for either scenario you could choose to purchase TurboTax Basic Desktop. Be sure to select that your child is being claimed by someone else when preparing the tax return, assuming you are claiming them as a dependent.

@annabardeen 

[Edited: 03/02/2024 | 7:24 AM PST]

[fanfare]

use a tax prep program from the IRS Free File  at IRS.gov

@annabardeen