My child is a student attending college and
working part-time. Does he have to file a tax return?
Whether he has to file a tax return depends on his filing status,
age, and gross income. Assuming he is a U.S. citizen or resident alien,
and he is not blind, he must file a return if he can be claimed as a dependent
on another person's return, he had any unearned income, and his total income
was more than $700. Examples of unearned income are taxable interest, dividends,
capital gains, and trust distributions. A dependent with earned income
must file a return only if his or her gross income is more than his or
her standard deduction amount. Examples of earned income are wages, tips,
and salaries. For more details, refer to Tax Topic
351, Who Must File, or the instructions in your tax package,
or Publication 929, Tax
Rules for Children and Dependents, or Publication
501, Exemptions, Standard Deduction, and Filing Information.
Can Form 1040EZ be used to claim the earned
income credit?
The earned income credit can be claimed on Form 1040EZ, however,
several requirements must be met to use Form 1040EZ. If you do not meet
all of them, you must use Form 1040A or Form 1040. For additional information
on the requirements, refer to Tax Topic 352, Which
Form - 1040, 1040A or 1040EZ.
I'm single, live alone, and have no dependents.
Can I file as head of household?
No. To use this filing status, you must have paid over half the cost
of keeping up a home for you and a child or other qualifying person for
over half the year. For detailed information, refer to Tax
Topic 353, What is Your Filing Status, or Publication
501, Exemptions, Standard Deduction, and Filing Information.
What can I do to make sure I will not owe the
IRS on my 1999 income tax return?
You can either increase the amount of income tax withheld from your
pay or make estimated tax payments for 1999. You may change the amount
of income tax withheld from your pay by filing a new Form W-4, Employee's
Withholding Allowance Certificate. Form 1040-ES, Estimated Tax for
Individuals, has a worksheet to see if you need to make estimated tax payments.
For more details, refer to Tax Topic 355, Estimated
Tax, or Publication 505,
Tax Withholding and Estimated Tax.
My husband passed away last year, and I will
be filing a joint return. Are any special return notations required to
indicate my husband is deceased?
If you are a surviving spouse filing a joint return and no personal
representative has been appointed, you should sign the return and write
in the signature area, "filing as surviving spouse." The final
return should have the word "Deceased," the decedent's name,
and the date of death written across the top of the return. For additional
information, refer to Tax Topic 356, Decedents.
I am adopting a child and do not yet have a
social security number for the child. How can I claim the exemption for
the child?
Parents in the process of a domestic U.S. adoption who do not have
and/or are unable to obtain the child's Social Security Number (SSN) should
request an Adoption Taxpayer Identification Number (ATIN) in order to claim
the child as a dependent and (if eligible) to claim the child care credit.
Form W-7A, Application for
Taxpayer Identification Number for Pending Adoptions, is used by qualifying
taxpayers to obtain an ATIN. To get Form W-7A, you may go to any IRS walk-in
site or call 1-800-829-3676. You may also download the form here in Adobe
PDF format.
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