Kiddie tax not required but final review keeps flagging errors

Forum|Forum|3 months ago
February 17, 2026
1 reply
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My child unearned income is much less than $2700. So I deleted the form 8615. The federal review (and smart check) keep flagging missing parent income information. Is this a bug in Turbo Tax software?

I think the State (CA) review also flags these as missing info.

PS: Turbo should know my child unearned income is much less than $2700. The step-by-step should bypass filling the form 8615.

RachelW33

Alumni - Expert

You are correct, Form 8615 (Kiddie Tax) should not be generating if your child's unearned income is less than $2,700.

I recommend deleting any unearned income forms (i.e. 1099-INT, 1099-DIV) that have been entered for your daughter and then re-entering them. Revisit those sections, select the trash can icon to delete, and then enter again.

Also, if there aren't many forms to input for your daughter, you may consider clearing and starting over. Please see: How do I clear and start over?

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LTrinhAuthor

Level 2

I removed all 1099-INT and 1099-DIV and re-entered them. During the smart check, errors are flagged and sure enough the errors were missing information for form 8615.

My daughter is a full time student, so I claim her as dependent. As little as she made, form 8615 keeps popping up and prevents me to continue is quite frustrating.

Please help

LTrinhAuthor

Level 2

It depends. @AmyC mentions the possible reason is that any scholarship or grant money (Box 5 of Form 1098-T) that exceeds the amount of tuition (Box 1) is considered taxable unearned income. If you entered a 1098-T where Box 5 is even $1 higher than Box 1, TurboTax automatically flags that excess as unearned income. If that excess plus her dividends totals more than $2700, Form 8615 is generated. This is a common "gotcha" that many people do not realize.

Review the 1098-T entry. If she used that "excess" scholarship money for required books, equipment, or supplies, you can enter those expenses to reduce the taxable scholarship amount. If the taxable scholarship amount drops, Form 8615 may disappear.

If Form 8615 is required because of the scholarship income, you can go to the forms mode on your return. Locate Form 8615 then enter the parent information, SSN, and filing status in Boxes A-C at the top of the form. Be sure to place a checkmark stating your child meets all the qualifications listed for the form.

Also, check your forms. If there is a 1099Q or worksheets associated with it, delete these.

[ Edited 02/25/2026 I 12:17pm PST]

I think I found the issue. The unearned income is actually over $2700. From the step-step process, I did not see the "total capital gain distribution", I only see the investment interest (1099-INT) and investment divident (1099-DIV). With the addition of the"total capital gain distribution", the unearned income is just over $2700.