Adult child as dependent with untaxed income and his filing status?

[raqi]

My son turned 19 in Jan, 2022, so for all of 2021 he was 18. Additionally, he was a high school student for the spring semester of 2021 and then a full-time college student for the fall semester of 2021. He made around $20,000 in untaxed income, which he received a 1099 form for. Because he was a student, am I required to claim his as a dependent? I am worried that because all of his income was 1099, that he will owe more in taxes than he would if he claimed himself as single. Would it be more beneficial to him to claim himself as single, and I not claim him as a dependent?

[JohnB5677]

Your logic is good. but I do want to ask a clarifying question.  What 1099 form did he get, and what was the $20,000 for.

[Mike9241 · Accepted solution]

you do not have to claim him.  nevertheless, he must mark his return that he could be claimed as a dependent on another's return. there is one exception to this. if he provided over 1/2 of his own support, then you can not claim him so he could file as single without having to check that he could be claimed as a dependent.

[raqi]

He is a pool technician and an umpire. Both jobs gave him a 1099 NEC. 

[Vanessa A]

So he earned the money as an independent contractor and will need to file a schedule C. As mentioned above, the one loophole to him not being claimed as a dependent is if he provided more than half of his own support. 

Even without being a dependent, he is going to pay more in taxes simply because he was "self-employed" as an independent contractor so he is responsible for self-employed taxes which consists of his regular federal income tax plus 15.3% Medicare and Social Security taxes.

If he is continuing with these positions for 2022, he should pay his taxes quarterly for both the federal and state in order to avoid a penalty at the end of the year.

 This means, if he paid rent, bought his own food, paid his auto insurance or for his own vehicle, all of this would count towards providing more than half of his support so he would not be considered your dependent. If he did not, then he would have to say that he can be claimed whether or not you actually claim him. 

You can use this worksheet to determine if he provided more than half of his own support.