Does my 25 year old son have to file taxes in both Michigan and California? He made 1500.00 in Michigan doing research as a med student but CA is his state of residence.

[rice0]

Also should he use the American credit opportunity even though he made only 1500.00? His tuition and expense are 66700.00 for 2017 which he will be paying himself.

[rice0]

I thought since my son is 25 years old he cant be claimed as a dependent. Is this true? If he isn't claimed as a dependent does he have to file in Michigan? Does he have to file for federal taxes? thank you

[Vanessa]

He is no longer a qualifying child, but he can possibly be claimed as a Qualifying Relative.  In order for your son to qualify as a qualifying relative, he would have had to earn less than $4,050 in 2017, and you would have had to provide more than half of his support. <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://www.irs.gov/publications/p501#en_US_2017_publink1000220954">https://www.irs.gov/publications...>

[Vanessa]

If this was income reported on a W2 and he did not have taxes withheld then No he does not need to file a return.  If he received this as self-employment income, he would need to file a federal return since it was more than $400.

[Vanessa]

If you walk through the process of entering him on your return in TurboTax, the program will ask you questions to help you decide if you can claim him as a dependent for 2017.

[rice0]

Thank you TurboTaxVanessaIA for the information!

[Vanessa · Accepted solution]

He is not eligible for the AOTC since he is in med school he would be past his 4th year in school, so he will not benefit from entering his 1098-T.

If he ONLY made $1,500 for the entire year from all sources then he is under the filing threshold for CA so he would not need to file a tax return for CA. 

For Michigan, if his income was $1,500 or less than he does not need to file. Michigan filing requirements are as follows:

• "If your parents (or someone else) can claim you as a dependent on their return and your AGI is $1,500 or less if single or married filing separately or $3,000 or less if filing a joint return, you do not need to file a return unless you are claiming a refund of withholding"http://www.michigan.gov/documents/taxes/MI-1040_Instruction_Book_609085_7.pdf

https://www.ftb.ca.gov/forms/2017-California-Tax-Rates-and-Exemptions.shtml#ifr

[Edited 3/10/2018 2:34PM EST]