Answer: 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 claim your adult child as a dependent if the individual lived with you the entire year, made less than $4300 in 2020, and you provided over half their support.
A minor who may be claimed as a dependent, needs to file a return if their income exceeds their Standard Deduction. A minor who earns less than $14,600 in 2024 will usually not owe taxes but may choose to file a return to receive a refund of tax withheld from their earnings.
Even if you are claimed as a dependent on another person's tax return, you will generally have to file your own tax return if your total income is more than your standard deduction (the greater of $12200 or your earned income plus $350 for single dependents in 2019).
If you're a dependent on someone else's return
You can be claimed as a dependent and still need to file your own tax return. Your filing requirement depends on your income, marital status and other criteria. Find details on filing requirements for dependents.
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.
The child must have lived with you for more than half of the year.2 3. The person's gross income for the year must be less than $4,300.3 Gross income means all income the person received in the form of money, goods, property and services, that isn't exempt from tax.
To claim a child's income on a parent's tax return, the child needs to be considered a qualifying child dependent of the parent. Parents can use IRS Form 8814 to elect to report their child's income on their tax return instead of the child filing their own return.
Should I file my own tax return as a student? Generally, if you made more than $12,950, you need to file your own tax return. But that number differs for married students, the head of a household, or those over 65. Also, if you didn't make that much money, you don't have to file a return, but you might want to.
Once your child reaches the age of 18, they are considered an adult in the eyes of the IRS. However, if they are still a full-time student, you can continue to claim them as a dependent until they turn 24. Once they are no longer a full-time student, you must stop claiming them.
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.
If the person who claimed you did so in error, they will need to file an amended return to remove you as a dependent. If the person who claimed you did so fraudulently, you may also need to contact the IRS to report identity theft.
As a dependent, you must file your own income tax return if (for tax year 2024) you were: Single, under age 65, not blind, and any of the following apply: Your earned income was more than $14,600.
For qualifying children:
The qualifying child must be one of these: Younger than you and under age 19 or under age 24, and a full-time student. Permanently and totally disabled.
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.
A qualifying child can earn an unlimited amount of money and still be claimed as a dependent, so long as the child doesn't also provide more than half of their own support.
Minors who qualify as dependents on their parent's tax return don't have to file a separate return until their income exceeds certain limits. To be a dependent, a minor must generally: Be under the age of 19 (or 24 if attending school on a full-time basis)
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.
If your dependent is a qualifying child, there is no limit to the amount of income they can earn. Generally, to qualify, the child must meet the specific relationship, age, residency, and support requirements. However, if your dependent is classified as a qualifying relative, their gross income must not exceed $4,700.
If you're still interested in claiming dependents, but your child doesn't meet these tests, your college student can still be your dependent if: You provide more than half of the child's support. The child's gross income (income that's not exempt from tax) is less than $4,700 in 2023.
Dependent children with unearned income of more than $1,300 must also file a return. And if the dependent child's earned and unearned income together total more than the larger of $1,300, or a total earned income up to $14,150 plus $450.
If you're earning an income, either from a part-time job on campus or a summer internship, you'll need to consider filing a student income tax return if your earned income exceeds the minimum income to file taxes, which is essentially the standard deduction for your filing status.
Several requirements must be satisfied before you claim an adult as a dependent on your tax return. How they're related to you, where they live, how much support you provide, and even their income are all factors in determining if an adult can be claimed as your dependent for tax purposes.