Filing a tax return for your child or other dependents will allow them to get a refund of any tax withheld.
Overview. The Young Child Tax Credit (YCTC) provides up to $1,154 per eligible tax return for tax year 2024. YCTC may provide you with cash back or reduce any tax you owe. California families qualify with earned income of $31,950 or less.
That means if a minor earns money from a job or makes money from interest, they may need to file a return and potentially even pay tax. Minors are required to file tax returns when they meet certain income limits. Whether or not a minor has to file also depends on the type of income they receive, earned or unearned.
Generally, a child is responsible for filing his or her own tax return and for paying any tax, penalties, or interest on that return. If a child can't file his or her own return for any reason, such as age, the child's parent, guardian, or other legally responsible person must file it for the child.
Household employees. Household employees under the age of 18 don't have to worry about payroll or self-employment taxes, unless they are in the trade or business of that job. This means that there are exceptions for jobs that include mowing lawns and babysitting.
For qualifying dependents who are not a qualifying child (called “qualifying relatives” in tax law), the person's gross income for the 2023 tax year must be below $4,700 (for 2023). For qualifying relatives, they must get more than half of their financial support from you.
Dependents eligible for this credit include children ages 17–18 or those 19–24 and in school full time in at least five months of the year. Also included are older dependents—representing about 6 percent of dependents eligible for the CTC. After 2025, the CTC is scheduled to revert to its pre-TCJA form.
For the 2025 tax year, the first $1,350 of a child's unearned income qualifies for the standard deduction, the next $1,350 is taxed at the child's income tax rate, and unearned income above $2,700 is taxed at the parent's marginal income tax rate. For 2024, these values were $1,300, $1,300, and $2,600, respectively.
The parent will have to pay tax on all the interest if it's above their own Personal Savings Allowance. You must also tell HMRC if a child has an income over their Personal Allowance, eg from a trust. The child will have to pay the tax on this. The tax year runs from 6 April to 5 April each year.
To meet the qualifying child test, your child must be younger than you or your spouse if filing jointly and either younger than 19 years old or be a "student" younger than 24 years old as of the end of the calendar year.
Child tax credit 2024
For 2024 (taxes filed in 2025), the child tax credit is worth up to $2,000 per qualifying dependent child. The refundable portion, also known as the additional child tax credit, is worth up to $1,700.
Now, a question arises: why does the Child Tax Credit cease when the child attains the age of 17? Though it may appear random, the logic behind this lies in societal norms that align 17 with the coming-of-age stage. This age has typically marked the end of school and the start of either higher education or employment.
Cons of Claiming a College Student as a Dependent
If your child has earned income and you claim them as a dependent, they lose the opportunity to claim their own personal exemption (when applicable in future years) and certain tax credits that could be more advantageous for them.
You can get a maximum annual credit of $2,500 per eligible student. If the credit brings the amount of tax you owe to zero, you can have 40 percent of any remaining amount of the credit (up to $1,000) refunded to you.
The short answer is YES.
Employers are required to withhold federal income taxes from employees' paychecks if the employee is expected to earn more than a certain minimum threshold for the year – usually the standard deduction for their filing status.
Whether you can get a tax refund as a teenager depends on whether you file a tax return with your parents or separately, how much income you have to report, and which tax deductions or credits you might qualify for.
Your dependent children must file a tax return when they earn above a certain amount of income. Dependent children with earned income in excess of $14,600 must file an income tax return (for the 2024 tax year).
The tax applies to dependent children under the age of 18 at the end of the tax year (or full-time students younger than 24) and works like this: The first $1,250 of unearned income is covered by the kiddie tax's standard deduction, so it isn't taxed. The next $1,250 is taxed at the child's marginal tax rate.
You can claim the Child Tax Credit for each qualifying child who has a Social Security number that is valid for employment in the United States. To be a qualifying child for the 2024 tax year, your dependent generally must: Be under 17 at the end of the tax year.
Good Reasons
If your income disqualifies you from claiming these credits, your child's income probably doesn't disqualify him or her. Therefore, your child may be able to report payment of education expenses for tax purposes and then claim one of the credits – but only if you don't claim him or her as a dependent.
Gross income is the total of your unearned and earned income. If your gross income was $5,050 or more, you usually can't be claimed as a dependent unless you are a qualifying child. For details, see Dependents.
Can they claim an exemption for me as a dependent or qualifying child on their tax return? Share: It's possible, but once you're over age 24, you can no longer be claimed as a qualifying child. The only exception to this is if you're permanently and totally disabled.
You can claim a child who works as a dependent if they still meet the requirements to be a qualifying child – including the age, relationship, residency, and support tests.
Changes to Certain Benefits
The five dependency tests – relationship, gross income, support, joint return and citizenship/residency – continue to apply to a qualifying relative. A child who is not a qualifying child might still be a dependent as a qualifying relative.