Kiddie Tax Question

[vaughnvk1]

I'm not tax expert, but I'm trying to determine if I should include my son's income and capital gains dividends on mine and my spouse's tax return or if he should just file his own taxes. He's 21 years old and a full-time student living at home. He made just under 7K earned income working part-time and just under $1600 on his UTMA for unearned income. The "kiddie tax" is a bit confusing. When I looked up the threshold, I found the threshold to be $2200. However in TTax it indicates if the child earns over $1100 of unearned income, the child needs to file their own taxes.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[MayaD]

Your son needs to file his tax return.

Dependent filing requirement :

If your dependent child is under age 19 (or under 24 if a full time student), he or she must file a tax return for 2019 if he had any of the following:

1. Total income (wages, salaries, taxable scholarship etc.) of more than $12,200.
2. Unearned income (interest, dividends, capital gains) of more than $1100.
3. Unearned income over $350 AND gross income of more than $1100.
4. Household employee income (e.g. baby sitting, lawn mowing) over $2100 ($12.200 if under age 18)
5. Other self employment income over $400, including box 7 of a 1099-MISC**

[vaughnvk1]

Thank you for your reply to my question. Do you know why there is a discrepancy between TTax and the IRS Publication 553?

https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc553

Would this not be considered under the Kiddie Tax law?

[Anonymous]

the rule is complicated because the rules cahange as the child gets older.

for a child 19-23 the KT applies if the child had unearned income of more than $2200, is a full-time student and eaned income (wages and self-employment income) is less than or equal to 50% of support.  support includes amounts spent for the child's food, lodging, clothing education medical care recreation transportation and similaar necessities,  scholarships are not considered support if he's a full-time student

from 8615 instructions which reiterates the above

Form 8615 must be filed for anyone who meets all of the
following conditions.
1. You had more than $2,200 of unearned income.
2. You are required to file a tax return.
3. You were either:
c. A full-time student at least age 19 and under age 24 at the
end of 2019 and didn’t have earned income that was more than
half of your support.
4. At least one of your parents was alive at the end of 2019.
5. You don’t file a joint return for 2019.
These rules apply if you’re legally adopted or a stepchild.
These rules also apply whether or not you’re a dependent.
These rules don’t apply if neither of your parents were living at
the end of the year.
Support. Your support includes all amounts spent to provide
you with food, lodging, clothing, education, medical and dental
care, recreation, transportation, and similar necessities. To
figure your support, count support provided by you, your
parents, and others. However, a scholarship you received isn’t
considered support if you’re a full-time student. For details, see
Pub. 501, Dependents, Standard Deduction, and Filing
Information.