Can my 16 claim herself as a dependent? if not ,can i claim her earned income on my taxes?

[zielot111]

two part question.

1. my daughter wants to file her own taxes this year.  she made about $6000 as a waitress.  I pay all of her living expenses.  is she required to put that she CAN be claimed as a dependent?  what happens if she doesnt?  could she get in trouble since she CAN be claimed?

2. in the event that she cant claim herself as a dependent, can i use her earned income as my own earned income since I would get more money back than her and I could give her money from that?

[xmasbaby0]

MY DEPENDENT HAD A JOB

If your 16 year old 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/

[xmasbaby0]

"2. in the event that she cant claim herself as a dependent, can i use her earned income as my own earned income since I would get more money back than her and I could give her money from that?"

NO you cannot put your child's income on your own return in order to get EIC.   The IRS matches up income reported on W-2's with the Social Security numbers that they are reported on by the employer and by the tax return filer.   You would be committing tax fraud if you used your daughter's income to get more EIC.

[zielot111]

Is she even legally allowed to put herself as a dependent?  or does she HAVE to say she can be claimed?  ive read different things.

[xmasbaby0]

Your 16 year old MUST say on her own tax return that she can be claimed as someone else's dependent.

https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/dependents/help/when-do-i-have-to-answer-yes-to-being-claimed-as-a...