@MarkE8447 wrote:
Nephew is 17. He is a full-time student and earned $8,350 at a part-time job. Does that qualify for changing "married-filing jointly" to "Head of Household"?
No, you do not qualify for Head of Household since you are married and living together.
You should be filing as Married Filing Jointly since the Standard Deduction is $25,100. And being not eligible for HOH is in your favor since the Standard Deduction for HOH is only $18,800
You should be able to claim your nephew as a dependent under the Qualifying Child rules where his income is not a factor as long as he does not provided over one-half of his own support.
To be a Qualifying Child -
1. The child must be your son, daughter, stepchild, foster child, 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 unless disabled.
