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I am getting an extension; must my 17yo with a 8615 get one also?

My 17 year old son has $8,500 in investment income, so he has to file a 8615. He also has $8,250 in deductions, so his taxable income is $250 and he owes no tax. I am getting an extension because I want to see how my Roth conversion plays out; unless it goes up significantly I will likely recharacterize half of it. I put both scenarios into to the 8615 and he doesn't owe any tax either way, so in a reasonable world it would not matter; but I am concerned about his return and mine not matching up which might happen if I file his now instead of waiting until I file mine. Is this a legitimate concern, or am I overly paranoid about the IRS?

Yeah, it costs nothing to get an extension for him, but I have a bit of OCD (you probably guessed that...) and I would be much more comfortable to get the darned thing out of here.

Reply to
Toller
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You might be overly confident in the data-matching capabilities of the IRS software.

In any case, I don't think the IRS would start sending out computer-generated letters regarding the relation between parents' return and child's return with investment income for another year from now, at least, by which time both returns should be firmly ensconced in the system.

There certainly would be no penalty if your 17-yr old kid decides to file his return ahead of yours. The instructions for Form 8615 state specifically what he should do if he uses estimates of your information on his return.

Reply to
Mark Bole

As a side note, the real issue here is that the son pays tax at the parent's RATE. To know the parent's rate it is assumed that the parent's return must be completed. BUT if the parent's return is substantially completed BUT has not been filed because you're waiting to see what happens with your Roth IRA for possible recharachterization options you STILL KNOW the parent's TAX RATE. So I see no reason to hold up the son's return. Nor do I see any issue coming from the IRS. AS LONG AS the actual rate on the parent's return when finally filed matches the rate used on the son's return.

And as Mark points out, there are instructions on what to do if the rate does wind up different from what the son anticipated.

Good luck, Gene E. Utterback, EA, RFC, ABA

Reply to
Gene E. Utterback, EA, RFC, AB

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