Filing a joint return with dependent that has income or filing the dependent separately?

Forum|Forum|7 years ago
October 10, 2018
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Question for tax experts.

On my 2018 tax return (income $180k, standard deduction $24k), I have a teenaged child in college that works part time. The child's income will add $6k of income to the return if included on parents return.

1. Does the child need to file a separate return as an individual or can their income be aded to the parents return?

2. Is it advantageous to file a separate return for the child and get the individual standard deduction for the child's return and filing jointly standard deduction for the parent's return?

S

Stinkerbellkity

Employee

You cannot add a child's earned income to a parent's return. If it has to be filed, it can only be filed on the child's return. If the child's earnings were all reported on a W-2, the child would not be required to file. If reported on a 1099-MISC, it would have to be filed and the child would owe self-employment tax (social security and medicare) on any net profit amount over $400. Your second question is answered by telling you that the earned income for the child would be filed on their own return if the amount requires filing. If not required tp file, the child would not file at all