关于孩子报税的问题
文章来源: JustTalk2019-04-06 05:08:08

朋友在微信群里问,我收集了一下回复,大家帮忙看看,是否合理?如果大家还有不同的方法,请一定赐教。谢谢!

2018年夏,孩子在大学里勤工助学,有数千美金的收入,学校发了W2。
根据IRS的规定,她的收入没有到达单独报税的数额,因此她个人就不单独报税了。
我们夫妻联合报税的时候,把她算为dependent,问题是:她的收入是否要算为我们的收入?

  • 如果不算,下面的问题就没有了。
  • 如果要算,就要输入她的W2的数据。 我用的报税软件是TAXACT,目前还有找到从哪里能输入dependent 的 W2。

回答1:
Do I need to file my own taxes if I'm a dependent?
Even if you're a dependent, you'll generally need to file your own 2018 tax return if:

Your earned income (money you made by working) exceeds $12,000, or
Your unearned income (interest, dividends, capital gains, etc.) exceeds $1,050, or
Your business or self-employment net income (gross minus expenses) is at least $400, or
Your gross income (earned plus unearned) exceeds the larger of $1,050 or your earned income (up to $11,650) plus $350.
But even if your income falls below these filing requirements, you'll want to file your own tax return to get a refund of any federal or state taxes withheld from your paychecks.

回答2:
2018 年已經沒有exemption 的宽減額這一項目。小孩可以自己报稅,拿回預繳的联邦和州稅。但是不拿 Standard deduction. 让父母 去Claim: 
a) Standard deduction.
b) Child tax credit.
c) American opportunity credit.

回答2的补充:
IRS site has detailed instructions. I just filed my teen W2 income separately. Make sure in kid's 1040 to check someone can claim him as a dependent. Thus, the parents can claim the $500 child credit that is the only benefit in parents tax return. Standard deduction is independent of number of children.

回答3:
孩子自己报税拿回预付款,同时claim是其他人的dependent。然后,父母报税claim孩子是他们的dependent,并且可以拿回可拿的孩子有关的credit。
这样孩子自己报不用交税,要是和你们报在一起可能要交税,孩子的预付税没法拿回来。

又想起一个新问题:
孩子头上有钱,是不是还要交大学的学费?我听说,如果孩子打工收入超过$6500,其中的50%需要用来交自己的学费。这个又怎么处理呢?

网友 Morning3evening4 的帖:
http://bbs.wenxuecity.com/bbs/znjy/4533222.html
我没有看懂,先存着。

急加油

一直以为上大学的孩子有一定收入后,可以完全脱离父母报税(父母不把孩子当dependent)。这种情况下,如果因为父母收入高(16万-18万之间为phase-out区间),不能拿education credit, 孩子可以自己拿。昨晚朋友用软件试,发现不行,才搞清不行的原因:孩子独立报税拿refundable 的1000有很多条件,上大学孩子基本不可能。我读过8863的说明,也就只看自家的情况合适不合适,走那条途径,没仔细研究其它不同情况。。。下面是8863的说明

If you were under age 24 at the end of 2018 and the conditions
listed below apply to you, you cannot claim any part of the
American opportunity credit as a refundable credit on your tax
return. Instead, you can claim your allowed credit, figured in Part
II, only as a nonrefundable credit to reduce your tax.
You don't qualify for a refundable American opportunity
credit if 1 (a, b, or c), 2, and 3 below apply to you.
1. You were:
a. Under age 18 at the end of 2018, or
b. Age 18 at the end of 2018 and your earned income
(defined later) was less than one-half of your support
(defined later), or
c. Over age 18 and under age 24 at the end of 2018 and a
full-time student (defined later) and your earned income
(defined later) was less than one-half of your support
(defined later).
2. At least one of your parents was alive at the end of 2018.
3. You're not filing a joint return for 2018.

业余水平的会计师还是不行啊。。。不过,今年由于500块的人头credit (credit for other dependents),这个credit的收入限制(married-file-jointly,40万)和education的收入限制不一样,他们把孩子作为dependent的建议被采纳,孩子有收入再另外报税。

昨晚再研究了一下8863的说明,对拿高奖学金助学金的家庭,下面这部分也许有用。8863说明对scholarship/fellowship数字在父母填税表时怎么分配,很有意思的。我举例:

假设学校学费50,000;Board/room 13,000。

1、scholarship 40,000,父母交了23,000。用来交学费的scholarship不算收入,因为拿到的scholarship少于学费,孩子没有收入需要交税。父母交的钱有一万算交学费,父母可以claim education Credit(只需要4,000就足够拿到所有的education credit了)。

2、Scholarship 52,000,父母交了11,000。这个很有意思--最合算的办法是孩子报6,000的收入,就是52,000的scholarship分成两部分,46,000交了学费,不算收入;6,000算交了board/room,算收入。父母交了11,000,7,000是board/room,4,000算是学费,这样就可以拿到所有的education credit。。。当然,你可以选择报2,000,父母交的钱全部算Board/room, 不拿education credit。。。记住,孩子作父母的dependent, 收入到12,000都没有联邦税。孩子6,000的收入没有联邦,但要交州税哦。。。

3、Scholarship 63,000。。。父母没交一分钱,自然没有可能拿education credit了。。。