I am the legal guardian of a 17 year old who is my dependent. She received unemployment in 2020. It is asking if her parents are alive and their income. Do I use mine?

[lynsea2020]

I can find no reference to children under a legal guardianship.  I have been her guardian for 12 years.  When I enter my taxable income, the amount of tax she owes increases...A lot!

[LenaH]

It depends. If she is legally adopted, then she is considered your child and kiddie tax would be assessed on your return. If you are not, and at least one of her parents were alive at the end of the tax year, then you would have to use her parent's information. 

Per the IRS, if the parent's taxable income, filing status, or net unearned income of the parent's other children isn't known by the due date of the child’s return, reasonable estimates can be used. Enter “Estimated” next to the appropriate line(s) of Form 8615.

Since you will be writing on the pages of the return, you will have to mail in her tax return and will not be able to e-file. When the correct information becomes available, you can file Form 1040-X, Amended U.S. Individual Income Tax Return.

For more information, please see Instructions for Form 8615. 

[Opus 17]

The reason is here.

https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/income/help/what-is-the-kiddie-tax/00/25913

The "kiddie tax" taxes a child's unearned income at their parents' rate, to prevent parents from avoiding tax by putting investments in a child's name to get the benefit of a lower interest rate.  For purposes of this tax, a parent's information is the basis of the tax, even if the child is under guardianship.  You will have to guess.  

[lynsea2020]

So...I still am unable to complete form 8615.  Maybe this explains the problem in a better way:  How does a 17 year old who is under legal guardianship complete the form?   Neither of her biological parents have had custody of her for over 12 years and during that time she has been my dependent.  There is NO way to obtain any tax information from them (including Social Security Numbers) and since neither of them are the custodial parent (that is the information requested by the IRS on lines A, B, C and  Part II) what do we do?.   When I called the IRS I was told  that that my question for form 8615 was considered an "Out of scope topic and there is no one at the IRS to help"  We cannot "estimate" as  suggested and file an amended form when the information becomes available.  The information will never become available.  

[PattiF]

You would be able to claim her as a dependent as a Qualifying Relative if she made less than $4300 in 2020.  The information about who is a dependent says that they have to live with you all year as a member of your household. She would need to file he own tax return if her earnings were greater than $12,400

You can claim her as your dependent under the Qualifying Relative rules if she meets all the requirements. She would be listed as "Other" in the support questions.

To be a Qualifying Relative -

1. The person cannot be your qualifying child or the qualifying child of any other taxpayer. A child is not the qualifying child of any other taxpayer if the child's parent (or any other person for whom the child is defined as a qualifying child) is not required to file an income tax return or files an income tax return only to get a refund on income tax withheld.
2. The person either (a) must be related to you or (b) must live with you all year as a member of your household.
3. The person's gross income for the year must be less than $4,300 (social security does not count) in 2020
4. You must provide more than half of the person's total support for the year.
5. The person must be a U.S. citizen or a U.S., Canada, or Mexico resident for some part of the year.
6. The person must not file a joint return with their spouse.

This is from IRS Publication 501 about income and filing. 

Form 8615 is to report a child's unearned income such as dividends or earnings from stock sales.

I'm not sure of the discussion that preceded this post, but if she made less than $4300, she can be claimed as a dependent.

[Opus 17]

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@lynsea2020 wrote:

So...I still am unable to complete form 8615.  Maybe this explains the problem in a better way:  How does a 17 year old who is under legal guardianship complete the form?   Neither of her biological parents have had custody of her for over 12 years and during that time she has been my dependent.  There is NO way to obtain any tax information from them (including Social Security Numbers) and since neither of them are the custodial parent (that is the information requested by the IRS on lines A, B, C and  Part II) what do we do?.   When I called the IRS I was told  that that my question for form 8615 was considered an "Out of scope topic and there is no one at the IRS to help"  We cannot "estimate" as  suggested and file an amended form when the information becomes available.  The information will never become available.  

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I have been completely unable to find out what the IRS says to do in the case where the parents are alive but estranged from their child. The law is not written in such a way as to cover this situation.  The IRS only discusses adopted and stepchildren.  The closest I can find is the IRS instruction to "estimate" the parent's income and then, when the actual figure is known, to file an amended return.  So I think you probably should estimate or guess based on whatever you know about the parent's finances and employment history.