minimum income for dependent to file

[clareb]

Hi, I have a question regarding my daughter, who is a full time college student, age 19 and claimed as a dependent on our taxes.  She had income this year from one job for which she received a W2, and 2 internships, for which she received 1099 MISC forms.  Her adjusted gross income is $9584, well below what I think is the minimum income to require submitting taxes.  ($12000 or so).   But, when doing all the forms through Turbotax, it shows that she owes $651 in federal taxes !?! 

Is this because for any  1099 MISC, they assume you are your own business?  Which clearly she is not. 

Or possibly because she had capital gain of $1149 from an investment account in her name?

We are still hoping she can get back some of the federal income tax withheld from her job.  Is it required to submit taxes?

[Bsch4477]

1.  It’s her earnings, not her AGI which determines her file requirement. All dependent children who earn more than $12,550 of income in 2021 must file a personal income tax return and might owe tax to the IRS.

2.  Yes, to get back tax withheld she has to file a return. 
3.  What was the 1099-misc for?

[clareb]

So, her total income was $9953: $3500 for the job with the W2.  Cap gains $1150.  The 1099-MISC were for paid internships --I am not sure why they gave her the 1099 MISC and not a W2 for those..  total, those were $5200.

Her total is still less than the $12000.  

[Bsch4477]

I suspect she owes tax because her 1099-misc income is considered self employment income and while she has no income tax liability she has self employment tax which is greater than the tax that has been withheld. At her income level the capital gains would not be taxed at all. In what box is her 1099-misc income and what did she do to earn it?

[clareb]

Both 1099 misc show up in Box 3- Other income.  No federal tax was withheld. 

One internship was with a small independent Business Consultant- she went to meetings, helped with some website content, etc. 

The other 1099 misc was from her college- she had been accepted in a program that compensates students for doing an unpaid internship-- this one was with an educational technology startup-- she did mostly data entry for that.  

Some of that income from her college was also a grant that she applied for and received for an individual summer project- for that, she started her own podcast interviewing various businesspeople in different professions.  

[Bsch4477]

She should not report that income as a business and it should not be subject to self employment tax. 

Report as other income. Verbiage may differ slightly on your version of TurboTax. 

Federal Taxes -> Wages & Income -> I'll choose what I work on -> scroll to the bottom and under Less Common Income select Start (or Update) for Miscellaneous Income.... You'll find all sorts of other income categories in there. If none of those shown fit the bill then pick Other reportable income and you can enter your own description(s) and amount(s).

[clareb]

Yes!!!  That worked!   I really could not figure that out on my own, since we had received the 1099 misc, and I could not see anywhere else to enter them.  Thank you SO much; I am very appreciative!