Must a minor be claimed as a dependend?

[Eric2043]

My child was 17 at the end of 2022 and had about $20,000 in earned income, dividends, and capital gains last year.  As her parent, can I avoid claiming her as a dependent so that she can take the standard deduction of $12,950?  I won't get the $500 child credit but her taxes will be reduced by over $1200 with the much larger standard deduction.

[xmasbaby0]

No.    At age 17 she CAN be claimed as your dependent.  There is no element of choice to that.  The rule is that if a person CAN be claimed as someone else's dependent they must say on their own return that they can be claimed---even if the person who could claim them does not.

Also....you mention that she has dividends and capital gains......are we dealing with kiddie tax?

https://ttlc.intuit.com/turbotax-support/en-us/help-article/small-business-processes/2021-kiddie-tax...

When does the Kiddie Tax kick in?

For tax year 2022, the Kiddie Tax applies if your child has unearned income (usually from investments) exceeding $2,300, is required to file a return, isn’t filing jointly, and was age:

• 17 or younger at the end of 2022
• 18 at the end of 2022, but only if their earned income (excluding scholarships in the case of a full-time student) didn’t exceed half of their support costs in 2022
• 19–23 at the end of 2022, but only if they were full-time students and their earned income (excluding scholarships) didn’t exceed half of their support costs in 2022

https://turbotax.intuit.com/personal-taxes/online/premier.jsphttps://ttlc.intuit.com/turbotax-suppor...

[DoninGA]

She would get the standard deduction of $12,950 whether you claim her or not based on her income.  Since the child is under the age of 19 you should be able to claim her as dependent as long as she has not provided over one-half of her 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.