My son earned $6500 in his summer job. Claimed exempt from Federal taxes as he earned less than $10500. Do I need to file his federal taxes if he is a dependent?

[mkolson]

We were told that our son could claim exempt on Federal taxes if he earns less that $10,500 in 2017.  He earned $6500 but was claimed as a dependent on our (parents) tax return.  Can he simply file state return to get his withholdings back or does he need to file both Federal and State returns

[VolvoGirl]

Sorry you were told wrong.  For a dependent the amount isn’t 10,500 but only 6,350.  He owes tax on the amount over 6,350.

[xmasbaby0]

MY DEPENDENT HAD A JOB

If your dependent has a W-2 for his after-school job, summer job, etc. you do not include the information on your own return. You can still claim your child as a dependent on your own return.  He/she can file his own return for a refund of some of his withheld wages (he won’t get back anything for Social Security or Medicare), but MUST indicate on it that he can be claimed as a dependent on someone else’s return.  (Supervise this closely or prepare it for him!)

If your dependent’s earnings were over $400 and were reported on a 1099Misc then he must file a return and pay self-employment tax for Social Security and Medicare.  You may want to use this version of TT for that:

https://turbotax.intuit.com/taxfreedom/

Actually since you will be claiming him as a dependent, he does not get his own personal exemption, so his wages over $6350 are taxable income.  If he continues to work, he should not claim to be "exempt".  He could just claim "1" or "0"  and then he might get a small refund.

[xmasbaby0]

He needs to file a federal return, since the information flows from Federal to state.  You cannot just file a stand alone state return on TurboTax.