<p>My 19 year old son will be working for the first time this summer (yippee!!!).
I have no idea how to handle the taxes. He will make less than 3,000 and we claim him on our taxes. Is there a threshold amount that they don’t have to pay taxes on, or if we claim him will his income be taxed at our rate, or what? If someone could point me in the right direction I would appreciate it.
Thanks in advance</p>
<p>If your son is a dependent, he has to file his own tax return if he has earned income of $5800 or unearned income of $950 (dividend income for example) or more.</p>
<p>Here’s a helpful website. I suggest reading carefully the section entitled “You may want to file a tax return” because even if it isn’t required, your son may wish to if taxes have been withheld from his pay. He may be given a refund.</p>
<p>[Do</a> I Need to File a Tax Return? Minimum Filing Requirements for Federal Income Tax Returns](<a href=“http://www.efile.com/tax/do-i-need-to-file-a-tax-return/]Do”>Do I Have to File Taxes? Income, Dependents, and Other Criteria)</p>
<p>Your son probably isn’t required to file a federal tax return, but it’s a good thing to do even if he didn’t have any taxes withheld. (If he had withholding and wants a refund, he needs to file. Same with state income taxes if your state has them.) As amarylandmom pointed out, your son is still your dependent and you don’t need to put his income on your return.</p>
<p>aMDmom is correct, although I think those income limits are slightly higher for 2013. That shouldn’t matter to you, though, if your son is still your dependent and he’ll be making less than $3000, as you say. As NewHope pointed out, if he is having money withheld, he will have to file to get a refund.</p>
<p>You should look into whether he can claim exempt from withholding. If he does not expect to earn enough to be required to file, he can claim exempt from income tax withholding on the W4 form (and whatever your state uses). He will then only have Social Security/Medicare and any other state disability taxes withheld. Check out the withholding calculator at the IRS web site.
[IRS</a> Withholding Calculator](<a href=“http://www.irs.gov/Individuals/IRS-Withholding-Calculator]IRS”>Tax Withholding Estimator | Internal Revenue Service)</p>
<p>The requirement is listed on the W4 form as follows:
I claim exemption from withholding for 2013, and I certify that I meet both of the following conditions for exemption.
• Last year I had a right to a refund of all federal income tax withheld because I had no tax liability, and
• This year I expect a refund of all federal income tax withheld because I expect to have no tax liability.
If you meet both conditions, write “Exempt” here .</p>
<p>Thanks. So what I understand is that for 3K neither he nor we will need to pay taxes on that amount. Is that correct? So if he asks them to NOT withhold taxes he will not owe anything at the end of the year.</p>
<p>That is correct, as long as he does not have unearned income > $950. He will have SS/Medicare withheld no matter what.</p>
<p>Thanks. The calculator confirmed what I needed to know.
Even if he gets a job in the fall, he should still be well below the minimum amount.</p>
<p>On my kids’ W4, they just needed to fill in ss no., write exempt in the applicable row, and sign it. In their case, they were not supposed to fill in the rows for allowances. The form was rejected at first by the bookkeeper because it had listed one allowance.</p>
<p>OP, if you’re in an income-tax state, there will probably be a separate withholding form for that.</p>