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Should I claim my son as a dependent and impact on his taxes?

My 19 yr old son started working last year (2023) but still lives at home and I believe I still pay for more than half of his living expenses.  I started to claim him as an dependent on my taxes as I've always done (but I haven't filed yet).  Before I do file, how does that impact his taxes?  I don't necessarily want to negatively impact his potential return.  Thoughts / Suggestions on what I should from experts or other parents that have been thru this?  This scenario will probably exist for me for a few / many years while he lives at home and while my younger son get to be that age too. 

 

Thank you,

Rob S.

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Accepted Solutions
JulieS
Expert Alumni

Should I claim my son as a dependent and impact on his taxes?

Yes, it sounds like you can claim him, but do carefully review the questions in TurboTax regarding his income and how long he was a student to make sure. 

 

As far as exactly what that will do to your tax returns, I can't answer that without doing them. 

 

Here are a few things to consider:

 

 

  • He's likely to get back all of the federal income tax he paid in even if you claim him as a dependent since he didn't work the entire year. 
  • It's likely there's an educational credit for the tuition while he was in college. It can only be claimed by you if you claim him as a dependent, or by him, if you don't.
  • In general, the claiming of a college student usually results in a higher refund for the parent than it does for the student. 

 

 

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Should I claim my son as a dependent and impact on his taxes?

No, he does not get all of that back.   Only the first $13,850 of his income was "tax free." That is his standard deduction.     He has to pay tax on the difference between $25,390 and $13,850.   He had $11,540 of taxable income.   He pays tax on that and gets back the difference of the tax owed on it and the amount withheld.   His federal refund should be somewhere around $780.  You have not mentioned what state you are in so we do not know how much his state refund should be.  But it would be unrealistic to expect it all back as a refund.

**Disclaimer: Every effort has been made to offer the most correct information possible. The poster disclaims any legal responsibility for the accuracy of the information that is contained in this post.**

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13 Replies

Should I claim my son as a dependent and impact on his taxes?

Assuming that he is not a full time student and earns more than $4,700 you can’t claim him. 

Should I claim my son as a dependent and impact on his taxes?

You have not mentioned when he turned 19 or whether he was a full-time student in 2023.   If he was 19 before the end of 2023 and he was NOT a student in 2023, you cannot claim him if he had over $4700 of income in 2023.

 

If he was younger than 19 at the end of 2023, you can claim him as a dependent even if he earned more than $4700, or if he was a full-time student in 2023, you can claim him even if he earned more than $4700.

 

If he can be claimed as someone else's dependent, he can still file his own tax return to seek a refund of tax withheld from his paychecks, but he MUST say on his own return that someone else can claim him.

 

 

IRS interview to help determine who can be claimed:

https://www.irs.gov/help/ita/who-can-i-claim-as-a-dependent

 

 

WHO CAN I CLAIM AS A DEPENDENT?

 

You can claim a child, relative, friend, or fiancé (etc.) as a dependent on your 2023 taxes as long as they meet the following requirements:

Qualifying child

  • They're related to you.
  • They aren't claimed as a dependent by someone else.
  • They're a U.S. citizen, resident alien, national, or a Canadian or Mexican resident.
  • They aren’t filing a joint return with their spouse.
  • They're under the age of 19 (or 24 for full-time students).
    • No age limit for permanently and totally disabled children.
  • They lived with you for more than half the year (exceptions apply).
  • They didn't provide more than half of their own support for the year.

Qualifying relative

  • They don't have to be related to you (despite the name).
  • They aren't claimed as a dependent by someone else.
  • They're a U.S. citizen, resident alien, national, or a Canadian or Mexican resident.
  • They aren’t filing a joint return with their spouse.
  • They lived with you the entire year (exceptions apply).
  • They made less than $4,700 in 2023.
  • You provided more than half of their financial support.

When you add someone as a dependent, we'll ask a series of questions to make sure you can claim them. There may be other tax benefits you can get when you claim a dependent.

 

**Disclaimer: Every effort has been made to offer the most correct information possible. The poster disclaims any legal responsibility for the accuracy of the information that is contained in this post.**

Should I claim my son as a dependent and impact on his taxes?

Thank you for your response. 

he was a full time student for the Spring semester of 2023 but decided college wasn’t for him and he didn’t go back in Fall 2023. He got a job instead. Can/should I claim him as a dependent? And if so, how does that impact both mine and his taxes?

 

thanks again!!

Rob

JulieS
Expert Alumni

Should I claim my son as a dependent and impact on his taxes?

Yes, it sounds like you can claim him, but do carefully review the questions in TurboTax regarding his income and how long he was a student to make sure. 

 

As far as exactly what that will do to your tax returns, I can't answer that without doing them. 

 

Here are a few things to consider:

 

 

  • He's likely to get back all of the federal income tax he paid in even if you claim him as a dependent since he didn't work the entire year. 
  • It's likely there's an educational credit for the tuition while he was in college. It can only be claimed by you if you claim him as a dependent, or by him, if you don't.
  • In general, the claiming of a college student usually results in a higher refund for the parent than it does for the student. 

 

 

**Say "Thanks" by clicking the thumb icon in a post
**Mark the post that answers your question by clicking on "Mark as Best Answer"

Should I claim my son as a dependent and impact on his taxes?

If he was a full time student for at least 5 months during the year you can claim him. The months don’t have to be consecutive.  Note that even if you don’t claim him, he still has to check the box saying that someone CAN claim him. You will be better off claiming him. 

Should I claim my son as a dependent and impact on his taxes?

Thank you. We started to do his taxes with the plan that I'm claiming him as a dependent because he was a full time student from Jan - May of 2023 (5 months).  He started working in June or July thru the remainder of 2023 while living at home.  Interestingly, it didn't seem like he was getting back all of his federal tax he paid like you mentioned??  Do you think I did something wrong?  Is there something in TurboTax that would trigger that type of refund of his federal tax that was taken out by his job?  

 

Thanks again,

Rob S.

Should I claim my son as a dependent and impact on his taxes?

@rsevick You do not say how much your son earned.   He cannot get a refund for the amounts that were withheld for Social Security or Medicare.   He can only get a refund of the amounts in boxes 2 or 17 of his W-2.   If his box 1 is more than the standard deduction amount for a single person $13,850-- his refund is based on his tax liability and how much was withheld. 

**Disclaimer: Every effort has been made to offer the most correct information possible. The poster disclaims any legal responsibility for the accuracy of the information that is contained in this post.**

Should I claim my son as a dependent and impact on his taxes?

Thank you for the response.  My son earned $25,390 in 2023 (box 1) and he had $1,952 in federal tax withheld (box 2) and $1,860 from state (box 17).  Should he expect $1,952 back from federal and $1,860 back from state?  based on this, should he get all of this money back or do I have to do something in Turbo Tax to trigger this? 

 

Thanks again,

Rob S.

Should I claim my son as a dependent and impact on his taxes?

At his income level he should owe taxes. 

Should I claim my son as a dependent and impact on his taxes?

No, he does not get all of that back.   Only the first $13,850 of his income was "tax free." That is his standard deduction.     He has to pay tax on the difference between $25,390 and $13,850.   He had $11,540 of taxable income.   He pays tax on that and gets back the difference of the tax owed on it and the amount withheld.   His federal refund should be somewhere around $780.  You have not mentioned what state you are in so we do not know how much his state refund should be.  But it would be unrealistic to expect it all back as a refund.

**Disclaimer: Every effort has been made to offer the most correct information possible. The poster disclaims any legal responsibility for the accuracy of the information that is contained in this post.**

Should I claim my son as a dependent and impact on his taxes?

Thank you for the great explanation!  We are in Maryland.  I think your estimate on the federal return is pretty accurate to what I saw in TurboTax.  But for some reason, our state (Maryland), it was saying he would get less then $100??  We hadn't finished walking thru everything for him but it seemed odd that his Maryland return seemed so much lower.  Does that make sense?  

 

BTW, I only was curious about getting the FULL amount of federal/state tax back because earlier in the thread that was mentioned so I wanted to make sure I wasn't doing something wrong.  

 

I really appreciate this forum and your help!  Taxes are very overwhelming and confusing and TurboTax makes the process easier but I still like to make sure I'm not missing anything.  

 

Thanks again, 

Rob S.

Should I claim my son as a dependent and impact on his taxes?

Hi... hoping you or someone can confirm what Turbo Tax is telling us for my 19 yr old son's state (Maryland) return.

 

From his W2, my son earned $25,390 in 2023 (box 1) and he had $1,952 in federal tax withheld (box 2) and $1,860 from state (box 17).  Your estimate earlier of $780 was pretty close to what he's getting back but TurboTax is tell us he is getting back only $133 from Maryland.  His return is pretty simple and only has ~$25 in interest/dividends.  Do you think his Maryland refund is correct or did I do something wrong and should start over?

 

Also, he is a Welder.  Can he claim expenses for his return? or because he is getting the standard deduction, it wouldn't matter if he put in expenses (like a welding helmet for example and other things) unless they were extensive in cost?

 

Thanks in advance, 

Rob S.

Should I claim my son as a dependent and impact on his taxes?

You have already said your son is a W-2 employee.  W-2 employees cannot deduct job-related expenses on a federal tax return.   There are some states in which job-related expenses can be deducted, but MD is not one of them.  Sorry.   

 

We cannot see the return you prepared.   If you entered your son's W-2 correctly and entered his state information from boxes 15, 16, and 17 correctly then the amount of his refund from MD is being calculated correctly based on the tax rates in MD and on how much he had withheld.   Double check the amounts you entered from those boxes.

**Disclaimer: Every effort has been made to offer the most correct information possible. The poster disclaims any legal responsibility for the accuracy of the information that is contained in this post.**
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