Must a minor with small job, interest-bearing savings, and IRA contributions file?

He must file if he makes more than the standard deduction + exemption. If he can be claimed as a dependent by his parents, then his exemption is zero. The standard deduction is $5,800. If he made more than $5,800 in the part-time jobs, then he should file and the $25 of interest would be taxable. You don't have to file in order to report a Roth contribution. See page 9 of

Interesting the third bullet point suggests if your interest is like $800, and earned income like $200, then you have to file as the gross income of $1000 is larger than the larger of { $950 and $200+$300=$500 }.

If he's not required to file a federal return, then not required to file a GA return either. From what you wrote above, he is chooses to file a federal return anyway, he is not required to file a state return because he was not required to file a federal return.

Especially if tax software or preparers charge you a bundle for it. You can either download the form and do it yourself, or go to the volunteer preparers who do it for free.

Is that $1550 a month or year?

Yes. When he is in school full time, he can still be claimed as a dependent as long as he is under 24 years old. I suspect it is $1550 a month, so he will certainly have to file, and should definitely do it in order to get all or most withheld money back.

Yes, because the income is earned, this means he can contribute to an IRA. Be sure to not contribute more than your earned income.

federal government to file taxes.

Did you double-check the minimum? There's a different, lower filing threshold for people who can be claimed as dependents vs. people who can't be.

Anyhow, since it would appear he can file on 1040-EZ, which takes about 2 minutes to complete, why not file and get back the $6. $6 for two minutes of work and a $0.45 stamp sounds like a good deal to me.

If he's under the threshold to file, as you say, his federal tax liability will be zero, even with the $25 of bank interest. So he'd pay $0 on his savings interest.

Can't speak to GA, but is it really so complicated that you can't spend a couple of minutes and a stamp to get back the $4?

17-year-old working part-time, making below the minimum required by the federal government to file taxes. He contributes to a Roth IRA, but not as a deduction from his paychecks. He has a savings account, making about 1% interest, totaling about $25 a year.

Must he file a federal return?

If he files a federal return ? He will get back the $6 in federal withholding. Will he pay about $4 on his savings interest?

Must he file a state return? Note that Georgia says he must file if he is required to file a federal return or has income subject to Georgia income tax but not subject to federal income tax. But it doesn?t say whether he must file if he does a federal return.

If he doesn?t have to file either, it doesn?t sound worth the effort in order to get just a few bucks back.

For 2012, he is turning 18, starting college out of state, receiving a tuition scholarship, and working a scholarship job on campus that will pay $1550.

For 2012, do the same factors as 2011 apply?

For 2012, can he contribute to his IRA from salary earned from a job given as part of a scholarship?

federal government to file taxes.

One more thing. You didn't say what the part time jobs were. They are either jobs for which you received a W-2 or schedule C jobs that you report on your tax return. If they are schedule C jobs then you have to file a tax return if you made more than $400, although if we worked in a church then he should file he his church income was more than $108.28. This is because he owes 15.3% FICA tax on his earned income, unless one of the exceptions apply.

Thanks everyone.

Answers:

Must he file a federal return? No, because he earned way less than the minimum earned income to file (doing a regular job at a pizza place) and way less than the minimum unearned income to file (Publication 929). And since his college job of $1550 is annually and not monthly, this should be the same for 2012.

If he files a federal return ? He will get back the $6 in federal withholding. Will he pay about $4 on his savings interest? No, because his federal tax liability is zero.

Must he file a state return? No, because he doesn?t have to file a federal return. However, I will research Georgia to see if he will get his state withholding of $2 back like he will get his federal withholding back.

For 2012, do the same factors as 2011 apply? Yes.

For 2012, can he contribute to his IRA from salary earned from a job given as part of a scholarship? Yes.

He will file because it will take just a short amount of time to do it himself; it will cost just a couple of stamps; he will get money back; it will be a good lesson; and it may come in handy for the future with the IRS and colleges.

He may have to file in 2012 if he claims the AOC on his own tax return. Suppose he or you pay some money for tuition or books or certain student activity fees, then the American Opportunity Credit can be claimed by the parent. But if their income is too high (around 180k if the parents are married), then the child may claim it on his own return. You have to file a tax return in order to claim a tax credit.

An aside: If the child does not provide more than half of his own support, ignoring the scholarship if he is a full time student -- meaning did the child pay for more than half of his rent, food, clothes, utilities; and totally ignore the scholarship if he is full time student -- the he cannot claim an exemption for himself. And neither can the parents if the child wants to claim the American Opportunity Credit. (Anyway, if your income is too high then your exemptions are phased out, and if they're not phased out then they may be effectively added back through the AMT.)

American Opportunity Credit:

Support Worksheet:

You do realize that he can file online for free and get his refund faster than mail/stamps, don't you? Go to the IRS site and they will steer you to several other web sites for free online filing.

I recall hearing about lots of problems using free services to file tax returns. Have those been resolved?

___ Stu

I recall hearing about lots of problems using free services to file tax returns. Have those been resolved?

___ Stu

I filed my daughter's return at

Piece of cake.

federal government to file taxes.

How does a minor have an IRA account? Most trustees (all that I've ever seen) require age 21.

Self-answered. If he's got less than the minimum for a dependent, obviously not.

Why? The standard deduction of (wages+$250) should absorb the $25 of interest, so what $4 tax are you talking about?

Depends on the state.

While many trustees require that the IRA owner be an adult (age 18), there are quite a few that will open accounts for minors. I had no trouble opening accounts for my children when they were in their early teens and working odd jobs.

Ira Smilovitz Leonia, NJ

anyone

First of all, the only reason I care about filing on line at all (free or not) is because the IRS apparently want us to do so. If that weren't the case, I'd be thrilled to continue filing the old fashioned way.

In addition, the IRS apparently now endorses at least one brand of free filing software. Are you telling me that if they are saying I should file on line, and they are recommending free software to do so, that I shouldn't complain if that software sucks?

Finally, I don't mind paying a reasonable amount to file on line. But I don't want to be forced to buy tax preparation software that I don't want just so that I can file on line. ___ Stu

But state costs extra -- a whopping $29.95. I found

which evidently has free state filing for Georgia. I looked at the first link, and while state is free, federal costs. You just can't win! The second link might be totally free.