Dependent Filing Requirements

by @omidarmin

Your qualifying dependent may need to file a tax return if their income is within the IRS filing requirements. To determine if your dependent is required to file a return, use our FILEucator Tax Tool. Once you answer a few simple questions about your dependent's situation, you will find out if your dependent needs to file a tax return. It's that easy! If your dependent is required to file a tax return, you or your dependent can prepare and e-file the return on eFile.com.

See also: how much can a child make and still qualify as a dependent?

Dependent Considerations

For 2022 Returns, if a person was born during the year or before 1997 and has low taxable income—below the standard deduction amount—it might be advantageous to prepare and e-file a tax return to possibly benefit from the Earned Income Tax Credit or EITC in the form of a tax refund. However, a dependent cannot claim the EITC; a parent or guardian claiming the dependent will benefit from this credit on their own return. Note: when you claim your dependent, you do not report their earned income on your tax return.

Your dependent may be required to file a return if they have one or more of the following types of income:

• Earned Income: This includes wages, salaries, tips, and other amounts you received as pay for work you actually perform. Taxable scholarship and fellowship grants are also included as earned income. See a list of possible forms that taxable income could be reported on.
• Unearned income: Taxable interest, capital gains, and ordinary dividends are examples of unearned income. Unemployment compensation, taxable social security benefits, pensions, and annuities of unearned income from a trust are also considered to be unearned income. Unearned income is not always nontaxable income.
• At any age, if you are a dependent on another person's tax return for 2022 and you are filing your own tax return, your standard deduction cannot exceed the greater of $1,150 or the sum of $400 and your individual earned income (up from $1,100 or the sum of $350 of your individual earned income in 2021). In the case of the latter, this cannot exceed the regular standard deduction of $12,950.
  • Example 1: If your earned income was $700, your standard deduction would be: $1,150 as the sum of $700 plus $400 is $1,100, thus less than $1,150.
  • Example 2: If your income was $3,200, your standard deduction would be: $3,600 as the sum of $3,200 plus $400 is $3,600 thus greater than $1,150.
  • Example 3: If your income was $14,000, your standard deduction would be $12,950 as your income exceeds the dependent standard deduction amounts.

Be aware that if you are under age 16 and have never filed a tax return, you cannot yet e-file your first year. You can prepare your return on eFile.com, print it, and mail it to the IRS to file it. However, you will be able to e-file your return the following year. As a dependent, your return is most likely free on eFile.com—should it not be free for any reason, contact us for a promo code. See tax return printing and mailing instructions.

Learn more about who qualifies as a dependent and use the FILEucator tool to quickly find out if you have to file a return.

Do IT Less Taxing!

As a single parent or a married couple with children, dependents can help you save money on taxes. If you are single with one or more dependents, you should file as head of household; this filing status allows single filers to claim dependents and take advantage of a higher standard deduction and other tax breaks. See if you qualify as head of household here. Because dependents are advantageous for taxes, many dependents may be wrongly claimed; learn what to do.

If your dependent works a part-time job at a grocery store or they take on a paid internship, they may receive a W-2 or 1099 for this income. If your dependent earns income, they may have had taxes withheld and will need to file a tax return. As a dependent, this is done by indicating it on Form 1040—eFile will fill this in for the dependent when they indicate that they will be claimed.

Related: Who can I claim as a tax dependent?

As a dependent working a W-2 job, you may be wondering how a dependent fills out a W-4. On eFile.com, you can use our free W-4 creator tools to help you with this. This IRS tax withholding form helps you determine how much taxes to have sent to the IRS from your paycheck each week, every other week, or monthly. If you do not make much money from your employment, you may not need to have taxes withheld at all. As a dependent, if you make under the standard deduction of $12,950, you should simply elect to have $0 in taxes withheld from your pay and you would see larger paychecks each pay period.

You can calculate your tax return here to see how this works; input your W-2 income up to $12,950, enter 0 taxes withheld, and see that your taxes owed/tax refund does not change.

Use these two general points on whether or not you should file:

• If you had any taxes at all withheld from your pay, file a tax return, regardless of how much money you made.
• If you made at least $12,950, file a tax return.
• If you made at least $400 from self-employment or freelance work, file a return.

Determine if you need to file taxes here; see more information via IRS Publication 929, Tax Rules for Children and Dependents.

Dependent Filing Requirements in 2022

If your dependent is claimed on your tax return, they may still be required to file an income tax return of their own. The requirements vary by filing status and age. The 2022 Tax Year minimum income requirements for dependents are listed in the table below. Note: We are currently waiting on the 2022 IRS Publication 501 to be released by the IRS. For now, the 2022 figures are based on the 2021 figures. Once this information is released by the IRS, we will update this page.

In the table, earned income refers to income earned by working as an employee; unearned income is income not earned by working, such as investment income or gifts. For married dependents, if your spouse files a separate return and itemizes deductions, you must also file a separate return if your total income is $5 or more. Additionally, regardless of your age and filing status, if you have at least $400 from self-employment activities, you must file a tax return. This applies to all tax years.

Dependent Standard Deduction

A dependent in 2022 may be qualified for a standard deduction of $1,150 or the sum of $400 plus their earned income. See the table item Dependent on the standard deduction page for details and examples.

Tax Year 2021 Dependent Deductions

If you claim a dependent on your tax return, they may still be required to file an income tax return of their own. The 2021 Tax Year minimum income requirements for dependents are listed in the table below.

Dependent Standard Deduction

The dependent standard deduction for 2021 Returns is $1,100 or the sum of $350 plus the dependent's earned income. See examples on the standard deduction page under the table item, Dependent.

Tax Year 2020 Dependent Deductions

The 2020 Tax Year minimum income requirements for dependents are listed in the table below.

Dependents and Income

If you have a dependent child who earned income by performing services, this income is included in your dependent's gross income and must be reported on his or her individual tax return. This is true even if a local law states that a child's parent has the right to claim the earnings and even received the earnings because of this ruling.

Be aware that you should NOT include your dependent's income as income on your own tax return. Your dependent has to report their income on their own tax return. In addition, your dependent needs to check a box on his or her own tax return to report that he or she can be claimed as a dependent on somebody else's tax return. If your dependent fails to do this, it might cause the IRS to reject your return when you attempt to e-file it.

A qualifying child dependent can make as much money as they want, as there is no income rule for these dependents. However, a qualifying relative can only make up to $4,400 in 2022, up from $4,300 in 2021.

Dependent Has No Income

Your dependent might need to file a return if one of the special reasons to file a tax return applies to them. For example, if they bought health insurance from the Marketplace, they need to file a return in order to claim the refundable Premium Tax Credit.

Your dependent can file a return if they want to, even if they do not have to. If it is possible that they will receive a tax refund, they should file a return in order to claim it. If your dependent wants to find out if they will be getting a refund or will owe taxes, they can use our free 2022 Tax Refund Calculator. Once they enter their tax information (income, tax withheld, tax credits/deductions, etc.), the calculator will provide an accurate estimate. However, the best way to determine whether or not they will receive a refund is to start preparing a tax return on eFile.com:

Start Your Tax Return Now

Your dependent student may need to file a return if they meet the IRS filing requirements. Even if they are not required to file, they may want to file a return in order to claim a refundable tax credit (i.e., American Opportunity Credit). Otherwise, you can claim this credit on your return by reporting their 1098-T.

Dependent Cannot File Due to Age

Be aware that if your dependent is under 16 years old and this is their first time filing a tax return, they cannot e-file their return. They can still prepare their return on eFile.com, print it, and mail it to the IRS to file it. They will be able to e-file their tax return the following year.

If your dependent child must file a tax return, but cannot because of their age or other reason, then you, a guardian, or other person who is legally responsible for the child, must file the return on the child's behalf. The person must also sign the child's name on the return if the child cannot sign it, followed by "By [your signature], parent for minor child." In addition, if your child owes tax on their income, you (or the child's guardian) are responsible for paying the owed tax.

Dividend and Interest Income from Dependent

You may be able to include your dependent child's dividend and interest income on your tax return. If you report this income on your return, your child will not have to file their own tax return. All of the following conditions must be met before you can claim your child's interest and dividend income on your return:

• Your child is under age 19 (or under age 24 if a he or she is a student) at the end of the tax year.
• Your child's gross income is only from dividends and interest (including capital gain distributions and Alaska Permanent Fund dividends).
  • The dividend and interest income was less than $10,500.
• Your child is required to file a tax return unless you meet the requirements to file your own return with your child's income.
• Your child does not file a joint tax return.
• No estimated tax payments were submitted for the current tax year and no overpayments for the previous tax year were applied for the current tax year under your child's name and Social Security number.
• You must be the parent whose tax return is used when reporting your child's income.
• No federal backup withholding tax was withheld from your child's income.

Filing a Return for A Young Child or Relative

In order to decide if your dependent should file a return on their own or with you, we recommend that you use our FILEucator tool to find out. Then, you can use our DEPENDucator tax tool to see if you can claim your child or relative as a dependent. Finally, use the results from both tools (as well as review the IRS tax return filing requirements) to decide the best way to file based on your situation.

Your dependent can prepare and e-file their tax return on eFile.com. We will determine the correct forms based on their answers to simple tax questions; their return will be double-checked for accuracy and missing information before they eFileIT.

Start Your Tax Return Now

Before they start preparing their return, your dependent will need copies of their W-2, 1099-NEC, or other tax forms from their employer or financial institution.

Related Information on Dependents and Tax Returns

• Tax return filing requirements
• Claiming dependents on a tax return
• Filing taxes as a student.

TurboTax^® is a registered trademark of Intuit, Inc.
H&R Block^® is a registered trademark of HRB Innovations, Inc.