my son is 15 and worked part-time this summer, i am going to claim him on my return.. do we claim his earnings

Question

yes my son did have deductions taken from his check

yes my son did have deductions taken from his check

Answer 1

Mitch gives a good answer, except you cannot get FUTA or FICA back, only federal withholding and state withholding.

Even if he is not required to file, he should consider doing a return to get the tax back. If you do not already have a CPA who will throw in his return as a freebie, consider going to www.irs.gov and completing it online. The service is available from January 12th. Just click on the FreeFile icon.

Answer 2

I don't know your whole tax situation, so here is as much as I can tell you. There is more to this, though.

He must file a return if any of the following apply:

1. His unearned income was more than $850.
2. His earned income was more than $5,150.
3. His gross income was more than the larger of —
1. $850, or
2. His earned income (up to $4,850) plus $300.

To put it simply, if he earned no more than $5,150 and received no dividends or interest, he doesn't have to file a return at all. Also, you can file your own return claiming him as a dependent (assuming he qualifies) without reporting his wages on your return.

Here are a couple of things to think about, though:
1. Check his W-2 to see if they withheld federal (FUTA) or state income tax. If they did, and he earned $5,150 or less, he should file a tax return to get the money refunded.
2. If you and he can afford it, think about setting up either a regular or a Roth IRA for him. I did it for my kids when they started working as teenagers. $1000 in an IRA now would mean about $30,000 in the bank when he retires at 65, assuming just 7% after inflation. Also, college aid usually counts IRA money more favorably than the student's other savings.

Good luck!

Answer 3

You can claim your son as a dependent as long as you provided more than half his total support (which you probably did). There is no income limitation to make a child under 18 not a dependent.

However, he must file his OWN tax return to get a refund of the federal withholding tax. He must be careful not to claim himself as an exemption. He gets the standard deduction of $5150 only. So if he made less than this amount, he gets 100% of his federal withholding tax back!

The WealthBuilder
Enrolled Agent / Tax Specialist

Answer 4

No, you don't claim his income, and you can most likely still claim him as a deduction as long as he lived with you and didn't provide over half of his own support.

If he made over $5150 and is your dependent, then he must file his own return. Even if he didn't make that much, he should file to get back his withholding. He can probably file 1040EZ, so it won't be difficult.

Answer 5

I would say that depends if any deductions were taken out of his check, because when my grand kids worked their checks were't deducted, by state or fed.

Answer 6

No, I believe he has to file his own income tax return if he got paid by a place of business as opposed to getting cash that was not recorded.