As your child becomes an adult, there are several milestones decisions for you to make. These milestones help your children become more independent and responsible. One of the things is filing your child’s tax return in their name. Therefore, to make things easier we are going to discuss how to file your child’s first income tax return.
Things to Keep in Mind
• Based on your child’s income they may be required to file by the IRS
• Filing a tax return will allow your child to receive the taxes that their employer withheld from their checks
• Filing allows your child to establish good financial habits.
When Your Child Must File
• If they are over the age of 19 by December 31st
• If they are over the age of 24 by December 31st and they are a full time student
• If they are not disabled
If your child does not meet any of the above requirements, you can still claim them as a dependent on your tax return. However, they must have more than half of their support provided by you and unless they are in college and they should reside with you for at least six months of the year.
Additional Things That Require Your Child to File
• They have an unearned income of more than $1000
• They have an earned income of more than $6550
• They have made more than $400 in self-employment income
Bottom Line
If your child does have to start filing taxes just walk them through the steps and they should get the hang of doing their taxes on their own in no time.