{"id":138,"date":"2015-01-19T15:42:42","date_gmt":"2015-01-19T20:42:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.etax.com\/?p=138"},"modified":"2014-12-04T15:44:05","modified_gmt":"2014-12-04T20:44:05","slug":"children-filing-tax-returns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.etax.com\/blog\/2015\/01\/19\/children-filing-tax-returns\/","title":{"rendered":"Children Filing Tax Returns"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p1\">There\u2019s a chance that you may have children who are required to file a tax return, even if they are a dependent of yours. Typically, the child is held accountable for filing the return, as well as paying any taxes owed, along with penalties and interest. In some cases, if the child fails to pay, the liability may fall with the parents. Any child who can\u2019t file their own return regardless of the reason will need to have a parent file on the child\u2019s behalf.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s2\">The amount of income earned and unearned by your child throughout the year will determine if they need to file a return. Earned income refers to monies paid for working, while unearned income is earned through investments.<\/span><!--more--><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Earned Income:<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s2\">Children who have earned more than the standard <a href=\"https:\/\/www.etax.com\/blog\/2026\/02\/19\/new-auto-loan-interest-deduction-how-to-save-up-to-10000-on-your-taxes-2025-2028\/\">deduction<\/a> rate are required to file a tax return. For 2014, the standard deduction is $6,200. For instance: your 16 year old earned $8,000 in wages at a summer job full time, as well as weekends throughout the school year. Despite not having any investment income, your child still has to file a return because their total annual earnings are above the threshold.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Unearned Income:<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s2\">Children who only have unearned income are required to file a tax return for any amount above $1,000 in 2014. Example: your 15 year old child grossed $2,500 in interest and dividend income for the year, but did not work at a job. Your child is still responsible to file because their only source of income is greater than the limit.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s2\">Parents of children under 19 years old (24 for full time students) may be eligible to include the child\u2019s unearned income on their own return, in which case the child wouldn\u2019t have to file a separate return.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Both Income Types:<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s2\">Children who have both earned and unearned income are responsible for filing a return in 2014 if the following are true:<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s2\">Unearned income was greater than $1,000<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s2\">Earned income was over $6,200<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s2\">Earned and unearned income total more than the largest sum of either two options: 1. $1,000 or 2. Total income up to $6,100 plus an additional $350.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p2\"><span class=\"s2\">An example: your college student child, still claimed as a dependent, received $3,500 in earned income from a job, as well as $100 in taxable interest. In this case, your child doesn\u2019t have to file a return because both income types are below the set limit, and the total income amount ($3,600) is less than the added $350 to total earned income.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There\u2019s a chance that you may have children who are required to file a tax return, even if they are a dependent of yours. Typically, the child is held accountable for filing the return, as well as paying any taxes owed, along with penalties and interest. In some cases, if the child fails to pay, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[125],"tags":[46,47,219,80,203,220],"class_list":["post-138","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general-filing","tag-child","tag-children","tag-earned-income","tag-student","tag-summer-job","tag-unearned-income"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Children Filing Tax Returns - eTax.com\u00ae Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.etax.com\/blog\/2015\/01\/19\/children-filing-tax-returns\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Children Filing Tax Returns - eTax.com\u00ae Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"There\u2019s a chance that you may have children who are required to file a tax return, even if they are a dependent of yours. 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