how will this affect how i file my taxes?

Question

my 15 yr old son has recently started working his first job...i like to know what i will be doing differntly when i file for 2006 taxes...and will he get any money back?

Answer 1

You can still claim him as a dependent as long as he is under 19 and doesn't pay for 1/2 of his living expenses himself and lives with your for at least 6 months. As far as he is concerned, he will need to do a tax return if he grosses over $5150 (for 2006). He should do a tax return anyway if he had any amount of federal tax withheld from his paycheck (box 2 of his W-2) regardless how much money he earned (box 1 of his W-2). He will get all of the box 2 amount back if he earned less than $5150. He may get some back or may owe if he earned more than $5150. Make sure that when he files (he will probably do a 1040-EZ) that he DOESN'T CLAIM HIMSELF! Make sure he selects the "Someone else can claim you" box.

(additional info: as far as claiming him, if you CAN claim him, he can NOT claim himself EVEN IF YOU DECIDE NOT TO CLAIM HIM! This is IRS law. If you can claim him, by all means, please do so. Again, if he lives with you for at least 6 months and does not support over 1/2 of his living expenses and is younger than 19 at the end of the year or under 24 at the end of the year AND a full-time student for at least 5 months, then he is your "qualifing child" and he can NOT claim himself.)

Hope this helps :)

Answer 2

Mainly, if you claim him as a dependent, he can't claim the personal exemption on his own form. What he gets back or owes will depend on what he made and had withheld. If you want to be really nice, you could not claim him as a dependent and let him claim the exemption, but he might not have made enough money for that to make any difference to him, and you'd be out $500 or so.