My daughter and granddaughter lived with me for the entire 2016 year. as head of household do I declare her SSDI and earned income? Earned income was less than $1550

[Hal_Al · Accepted solution]

No.

You do not report his/her income on your return. If it has to be reported at all, it goes on his own return. Your dependent  must file a tax return for 2016 if he had any of the following:

1.         Total income (wages, salaries, taxable scholarship etc.) of more than $6,300 (2016).

2.         Unearned income (interest, dividends, capital gains) of more than $1050 (2016).

3.         Unearned income over $350 and gross income of more than $1050

4.         Household employee income (e.g. baby sitting, lawn mowing) over $2000 ($6300 if under age 18)

5.         Other self employment income over $400, including box 7 of a 1099-MISC

6.         If her spouse is filing as Married Filing Separately and itemizing deductions, she must file with as little as $5 of income.

Social Security, including SSDI is not counted as income for determining if she needs to file.

 Even if he had less, he is allowed to file if he needs to get back income tax withholding. He cannot get back social security or Medicare tax withholding.

 He doesn’t get his own $4050 exemption (deduction), when he files. In TurboTax, he indicates that somebody else can claim him as a dependent, at the personal information section.