Can I deduct my son as a dependent and/or does he have to file taxes on his own? He turned 18 this year and got a part time job he had for a while.

[Tommy411]

He's still at home.

[Texas Roger · Accepted solution]

Yes you can probably claim him. Here are the rules:

1. The child must be your son, daughter, stepchild, foster chld, brother, sister, half brother, half sister, stepbrother, stepsister, or a descendant of any of them.
2. The child must be (a) under age 19 at the end of the year, (b) under age 24 at the end of the year and a full-time student, or (c) any age and permanently and totally disabled.
3. The child must have lived with you for more than half of the year. Temporary absences while away at college are considered living with you.
4. The child must not have provided more than half of his or her own support for the year.
5. If the child meets the rules to be a qualifying child of more than one person, you must be the person entitled to claim the child as a qualifying child.
6. The child must be a U.S. citizen or U.S., Canada or Mexico resident for some portion of the year.
7. The child must be younger than you (or your spouse, if filing jointly) unless disabled.

If you do claim him and he files a tax return, he must indicate on his return that he can be claimed by someone else. He must indicate that even if you don't claim him and he is eligible to be claimed. 

Whether he files or not, you do not enter his income on your tax return.

[Texas Roger]

See this article to determine whether he must file a tax return or not: https://ttlc.intuit.com/turbotax-support/en-us/help-article/taxation/need-file-taxes-dependent/L08E2...