How to file a Tax Return for a Dependent College Student Child living with us and received Unemployment Benefits and form 1099-G

[Mogambo2021]

Hi,

I have a 20 year old daughter who is a college student and stays with us and she's a dependent.

She earned about $1400 from her job and later received about 17K PUA Unemployment benefits and she received a form 1099-G.

My questions is, can I file her as a dependent in our joint tax return and also file her separate individual tax return so that I can add her 1099-G form in her return as we don't have an option to add our child's 1099-G in my joint tax return.  

Please let me know.
Thanks

[MayaD · Accepted solution]

If your daughter didn't provide more than half of her own support and if she meets all the other requirements of a Qualifying child, you will be able to claim her as a dependent.

Qualifying child

You must be able to answer "yes" to all of the following questions:

• Are they related to you? The child can be your son, daughter, stepchild, eligible foster child, brother, sister, half brother, half sister, stepbrother, stepsister, adopted child or an offspring of any of them.
• Do they meet the age requirement? Your child must be under age 19 or, if a full-time student, under age 24. There is no age limit if your child is permanently and totally disabled.
• Do they live with you? Your child must live with you for more than half the year, but several exceptions apply.
• Do you financially support them? Your child may have a job, but that job cannot provide more than half of her support.
• Are you the only person claiming them? This requirement commonly applies to children of divorced parents. Here you must use the “tie breaker rules,” which are found in IRS Publication 501. These rules establish income, parentage and residency requirements for claiming a child.

You should not add your daughter's 1099-G on your return.

Your daughter should file her own return and if she qualifies as a dependent on your return, she needs to check the box that someone else will claim her on his/her return. 

[Mogambo2021]

Thanks!

[MayaD]

@Mogambo2021

You're welcome!!

[TaxNavigation]

Sorry to bother! I am curious about how claiming a student as dependent rather than independent will affect how much tax is due for parents and the student? 
would it save more on taxes if the student is filed as dependent versus as independent?

My student is 18 years old and has unemployment up to around 31,000. 

may you look at my question below:

Sorry to bother, but I am confused on how to file an 18 year old who has received unemployment up to around 30,000. I see some people say that a person is considered dependent no matter what the income is. However, based on your reply, it seems that a person can not be filed as dependent if they have too much unearned income from unemployment benefits. 

How should I filed an 18 year old under their married jointly parents? Would it be better to file them as independent or dependent?

Which would save more? 
Taking into account possible EIC, EITC, American Opportunity Credits, tax deductions, tax exemptions, and other possible credits or benefits?

Their parents’ income is around AGI is around 41200. 
Also would using the look back provision be better to help the unemployment money from causing ineligibility for tax benefits?

sorry for so many questions. I am really confused on how to help get the least tax due

[ColeenD3]

A person is either someone's dependent or they file independently. If they qualify as a dependent, it is not up to them to decide that they wish to file as independent. They are not entitled to tax benefits that an independent person would receive, such as the stimulus. 

If you choose not to claim him, you will at least probably lose a Child or Other Dependent Tax Credit. Even if you were to not claim him, he is still not entitled to claim himself. He can enter that nobody will claim him, but not that there is someone who can't claim him.

[ColeenD3]

EIC is not allowed for anyone under age 25 unless they have a child. The kiddie tax absolutely applies. The fact that they made unemployment doesn't matter since income is not a test. Support is the test.