I claimed my 17 year old full time student. Does he have to now file taxes? He had approx 4800 in wages and $10,900 in Maryland unemployment. I asked this earlier and was told yes BUT .... When I filled out the forms to file, his AGI is only like $5330 which is is UNDER the $6300 requirement of having to file in 2020. So does he really have to file since his AGI is lower?
The change in unemployment law certainly helped him. The best way to answer is that if there is $0 in tax, he technically does not need to file. However, if he is entitled to a refund he will certainly want to file to get that money back. And given the situation with the unemployment exclusion, it might not be a bad idea to go ahead and file anyways and eliminate any possibility of confusion by the IRS or Maryland.
So for this year I would recommend he file even if not technically required to do so.