Federal Income Tax FAQ

To claim your child as your dependent, your child must meet either the qualifying child test or the qualifying relative test:
  • To meet the qualifying child test, your child must be younger than you and either younger than 19 years old or be a “student” younger than 24 years old as of the end of the calendar year.
  • There’s no age limit if your child is “permanently and totally disabled” or meets the qualifying relative test.
 
In addition to meeting the qualifying child or qualifying relative test, your child must also meet all of the other tests to be your dependent:
  1. Dependent taxpayer test
  2. Citizen or resident test, and
  3. Joint return test
An unmarried dependent student must file a tax return if his or her earned or unearned income exceeds certain limits. To find these limits, refer to Dependents under Who Must File in Publication 501, Dependents, Standard Deduction and Filing Information. You can also refer to Do I Need to File a Tax Return? to see if your income requires you to file.
 
Even if you don’t have to file a federal income tax return, you should file if you can get money back (for example, you had federal income tax withheld from your pay or you qualify for a refundable tax credit). See Who Should File in Publication 501 for more examples.
No, one of the conditions of your installment agreement is that the IRS will automatically apply any refund due to you against taxes you owe. Because your refund isn’t applied toward your regular monthly payment, continue making your installment agreement payments as scheduled.
 
If your refund exceeds your total balance due on all outstanding liabilities including accruals, and you don’t owe certain past-due amounts, such as federal tax, state tax, a student loan, or child support, you’ll receive a refund of the amount over and above what you owe. For more information on these non-IRS refund offsets, you can call the Bureau of the Fiscal Service (BFS) at 800-304-3107 (toll-free).

Generally, to qualify for head of household filing status, you must have a qualifying child or a dependent. However, a custodial parent may be eligible to claim head of household filing status based on a child even if he or she released a claim to exemption for the child. See Noncustodial parent is claiming an exemption for my child; do I still qualify as head of household?

It depends on the type of mistake you made:
  • Many mathematical errors are caught during the processing of the tax return and corrected by the IRS, so you may not need to correct these mistakes.
  • If you didn’t claim the correct filing status or you need to change your income, deductions, or credits, you should file an amended or corrected return using Form 1040X,  Amended U.S. Individual Income Tax Return.
 
When filing an amended or corrected return:
  • Include copies of any forms and/or schedules that you’re changing or didn’t include with your original return.
  • To avoid delays, file Form 1040X only after you’ve filed your original return. Generally, for a credit or refund, you must file Form 1040X within 3 years after the date you timely filed your original return or within 2 years after the date you paid the tax, whichever is later.
  • Allow the IRS up to 16 weeks to process the amended return.
An unmarried dependent student must file a tax return if his or her earned or unearned income exceeds certain limits. To find these limits, refer to Dependents under Who Must File in Publication 501, Dependents, Standard Deduction and Filing Information. You can also refer to Do I Need to File a Tax Return? to see if your income requires you to file.
 
Even if you don’t have to file a federal income tax return, you should file if you can get money back (for example, you had federal income tax withheld from your pay or you qualify for a refundable tax credit). See Who Should File in Publication 501 for more examples.
Federal tax law is what determines who may claim a child as a dependent. Even if a state court order allocates the ability to claim the child to a noncustodial parent, the noncustodial parent must comply with the federal tax law to claim the dependent. The noncustodial parent must attach to his or her return a copy of the release of claim to exemption by the custodial parent, either a Form 8332, Release/Revocation of Release of Claim to Exemption for Child by Custodial Parent or a substantially similar document.
 
Refer to Publication 504, Divorced or Separated Individuals for more information on the special rule for children of divorced or separated parents (or parents who live apart).
No, only one parent may claim the child as a qualifying child to file as head of household.
  • To file as head of household you must furnish over one-half of the cost of maintaining the household for you and a qualifying person. Therefore, only one of the parents will have contributed more than one-half of the cost of maintaining the household and be eligible to file as head of household.
  • If both parents claim the child as a qualifying child, there is a tie-breaker rule to determine which parent may claim the child. See Qualifying Child of More Than One Person for more information.

The cost of a personal computer is generally a personal expense that’s not deductible. However, you may be able to claim an American opportunity tax credit for the amount paid to buy a computer if you need a computer to attend your university. For more information, refer to Publication 970, Tax Benefits for Education.

Your parents cannot claim the deduction for student loan interest on their tax return because you were not their dependent at the time they took out a student loan for you. However, you can claim the deduction with respect to the loan that you took out for yourself (assuming that you meet the other requirements for this deduction).
 
On the other hand, if the facts were different and you were your parents’ dependent at the time that they took out a student loan for you, then your parents could claim the deduction with respect to this loan. Note that you may be considered your parents’ dependent even if they were unable to claim you as a dependent on their tax returns. Note also that if your parents did claim you as a dependent on their tax returns, then you would no longer be able to claim the deduction with respect to the loan that you took out for yourself.
If you and your spouse file separate returns and one of you itemizes deductions, the other spouse must also itemize, because in this case, the standard deduction amount is zero for the non-itemizing spouse.
  • You may be able to claim itemized deductions on a separate return for certain expenses that you paid separately or jointly with your spouse.
  • When paid from separate funds, expenses are deductible only by the spouse who pays them.
    • For example, if otherwise deductible medical expenses are paid from an account owned by one of the spouses or in a community property state from an account that’s the separate property of one of the spouses under the laws of that state, only that spouse may claim a deduction for the expenditure.
  • When expenses are paid from funds owned by both spouses, such as from a joint checking account or accounts considered community property under the laws of the state in which the spouses reside, you should generally split the deduction between you and your spouse.
    • For example, if amounts are paid from a joint checking account for interest on a residence both you and your spouse own, you would each deduct half of the mortgage interest paid on your separate returns.
    • However, if only one of you is eligible for a deduction for an expense (for example, real estate taxes on a property owned only by the eligible spouse), only the spouse who is eligible for the deduction is allowed to claim it, even if the expense is paid from joint funds. Each spouse must maintain records documenting who is considered to have paid the expense.
No, for purposes of calculating the earned income credit, child support isn’t considered earned income.
 
Examples of items that aren’t earned income include interest and dividends, pensions and annuities, social security and railroad retirement benefits (including disability benefits), alimony and child support, welfare benefits, workers’ compensation benefits, unemployment compensation (insurance), nontaxable foster care payments, and veterans’ benefits, including VA rehabilitation payments. Don’t include any of these items in your earned income.
Generally, you don’t have to be entitled to claim the child as a dependent to claim the earned income credit based on the child being your qualifying child, because the support test for qualifying child as a dependent does not apply for the earned income credit.  However, if your qualifying child was married at the end of your tax year, he or she can’t be your qualifying child unless you meet one of the following conditions:
  • You’re entitled to claim the child as a dependent, or
  • The reason you’re not entitled to claim the child as a dependent is that you released a claim to a dependency exemption for the child under the special rule for divorced or separated parents or parents who live apart
Yes, you may claim both the child tax credit (CTC)  and the child and dependent care credit on your return if you qualify for both credits.
 
Note: If you don’t have a TIN by the due date of your return (including extensions), you may not claim the CTC/ACTC on either your original or an amended return, even if you later get a TIN. Also, you may not claim the CTC/ACTC on either your original or an amended return for a child who doesn’t have an SSN by the due date of your return (including extensions), even if that child later gets one.
Yes, you can still claim the child and dependent care credit when you’re missing the provider’s social security number or other taxpayer identification number by demonstrating due diligence in attempting to secure this information.
 
Claim the childcare expenses on Form 2441, Child and Dependent Care Expenses and provide the care provider’s information you have available (such as name and address). Write “See Attached Statement” in the columns missing information. Explain on the attached statement that you requested the provider’s identifying number, but the provider didn’t give it to you. This statement supports use of due diligence in trying to secure the identifying information for the claim.