Dependent income under $10,000

Mountaingal

My husband and I file a joint return, and we are claiming our 17-year-old daughter as our dependent. She is still a full-time student, but worked part time during the Summer for about 3 weeks. She is supposed to receive a W2, but her gross income was less than $2000 for that time period. My question:

1. do we have to claim her income somewhere on our joint return?
2. IF 'yes', then where/how does it have to be added? (I'm only seeing options for my husband and myself in the income section where W2s can be added)

Henry

Hello Mountaingal! Those are good questions.

You shouldn't include your child's wage income on your tax return, which is why you aren't seeing the option in the software to add a W-2 for her. Rather, your daughter's income would be reported on a separate tax return, if she needs to file.

The IRS has a great tool that can help you determine whether or not your daughter needs to file a tax return. It is available here: https://www.irs.gov/help/ita/do-i-need-to-file-a-tax-return

Generally, if your daughter's income is below a certain amount, she is not required to file a tax return (see Table 2 on pg 4 of IRS Publication 501 for the current year's income guidelines). However, if your daughter had any federal or state tax withheld, you probably want to file a tax return for her because she may get a tax refund.

If you end up needing or wanting to file a tax return for your daughter, you can go to our homepage, create a new account for her, and enter her information. Keep in mind that even if your daughter is filing her own tax return, you can still claim her as a dependent on your tax return if you are eligible to claim your daughter as a dependent.