Filing for Dependent 21 years old, student at college, earned for summer internship

[RS2024]

My son 21 years is dependent and studying in 4-year college. He earned apprx $9k during his 2023 summer internship. Should that income be declared in my taxes? Is there an exemption?  

[AmyC]

No, your son will file his own return and mark that somebody else can claim him. You will claim him and any college credits.

[DoninGA · Accepted solution]

You do not enter a dependent's earned income on your tax return.  The dependent can file their own tax return and indicate on the return that they can be claimed as a depedent.

You can claim him as a dependent under the Qualifying Child rules provided he meets all the requirements.

Note - His income is not a factor when claiming him as a dependent.  What is a factor is if he provided over one-half of his 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.

[RS2024 · Accepted solution]

To clarify further 

" The dependent can file their own tax return and ..." 

Does "can" file mean optional or mandatory? For apprx $9k for all of 2023 during summer internship, does he need (must) to file?  He qualifies as a child per list of 7 items in your response  

[Vanessa A · Accepted solution]

Since he only earned $9,000 he is under the filing threshold for federal return.  However, state laws vary so he may still have to file for his state return.   Also, some states require a federal return to be filed with the state return.  

Even if he doesn't have to file, he can still choose to file if they withheld taxes so he can get a refund of his taxes withheld for federal.  Again, state rules vary. 

When she said can, you do not have to claim him, but it is generally beneficial to claim your child.  You may be able to claim the $500 Non-Refundable Other Dependent Credit

[DoninGA]

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@RS2024 wrote:

To clarify further 

" The dependent can file their own tax return and ..." 

Does "can" file mean optional or mandatory? For apprx $9k for all of 2023 during summer internship, does he need (must) to file?  He qualifies as a child per list of 7 items in your response  

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It depends on the type of income he received.  If he received a Form W-2 as an employee and his income is under $13,850 he does not have to file a tax return since it is below the filing requirements.  If he had taxes withheld from his wages on the W-2 then he should file for a tax refund.

If his income was from self-employment and he received a Form 1099-NEC or Cash only, then he was self-employed and is Required to report the income since it is more than $400.  He would have to complete a federal tax return and include with the return a Schedule C to report the self-employment income and expenses.