topic Re: Foreign earned income and Dependent status in Investors & landlords

Foreign earned income and Dependent status

ChrisD-65 — Wed, 11 Feb 2026 04:19:00 GMT

Hello, my son is 24 and was in college till late 2022 then switched to an apprenticeship here in Germany. He lives at home and we support him. He is a US citizen and not disabled. 2023 is the first year he made any money and it is over the $4700 but made in Germany and taxed by the Germans. His income is too low to to do US taxes and he paid German taxes on the income so now I'm trying to figure out if this qualifies.

When I added him to my tax return the question asked was, did he make $4700 or more last year? My question is does this foreign earned income count in this instance?

" Income

The type of income we're asking about here is gross income. Gross income is any kind of income that's taxable, which includes:
- Wages
- Taxable pensions
- Unemployment
- Any portion of scholarships and fellowship grants that wasn't used for tuition, fees, books or equipment required for courses
- Rental property income (rent) received before any expenses
- Business income received after the cost of goods sold, but before any other operating expenses
- The amount of any share of partnership gross income
- Any investment income that is taxable

Keep in mind, Social Security is generally nontaxable, and won't count as gross income in most cases."

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Re: Foreign earned income and Dependent status

DavidD66 — Tue, 06 Feb 2024 19:21:12 GMT

Yes, the foreign earned income counts. Because he earned more than $4,700 and was not a student, he does not qualify as your dependent for tax purposes.

Re: Foreign earned income and Dependent status

ChrisD-65 — Tue, 06 Feb 2024 19:54:29 GMT

OK, completed my taxes with the appropriate information and I owe some taxes, a little over $10. As I was completing my review to E-submit I noticed that some estimated payment vouchers were included. I don't anticipate my taxes to change as I'm retired so I've already changed my W4 and added extra withholding each month just in case.

- Do I still need to send in these extra payments? Or is it optional?

Re: Foreign earned income and Dependent status

ThomasM125 — Tue, 06 Feb 2024 20:50:41 GMT

You don't need to send in estimated payments, that is optional. As long as you pay in enough taxes through withholdings in a timely fashion you will not be penalized for underpayment of tax.