College Daughter - Required Tax return?

Financial Planning Tax Strategies
1

Hello

19 year old college daughter worked over the summer and received a W-2 roughly $6K in wages. Does she have to file a tax return even if we claim her on ours?

It’s been a loooonng time when I was college age and cannot recall. I do recall that as a college student I did have to file but checked the box ‘claimed by others’ or something like that

Thanks

JTS

2

Hi JTS,

See tables 1 and 2 to determine if there is a filing requirement. Wages are considered earned income.

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p501.pdf

TaxAccountant

3

19 year old college daughter worked over the summer and received a W-2 roughly $6K in wages. Does she have to file a tax return even if we claim her on ours?

I would point out that even if she’s not ‘required to’ file a tax return, if there were any income taxes withheld, she should file a return to get those back. Presuming she’s actually a dependent because you provided more than half of her support (see TaxAccountant’s worksheet reference), her standard deduction is her earned income plus $350 or the regular standard deduction of $12,550, whichever is less. In this case, it would be $6,350, for $6,000 in income. Assuming that she didn’t have more than $350 in other income (interest, dividends, etc.), she should get all income tax withholdings back, even if she’s not required to file a return.

If she/you can afford for her to do so, I would encourage her to open a Roth IRA with those untaxed earnings.

AJ

13 Likes
4

Also some scholarships can be considered taxable.

5

Thanks Tax Accountant and AJ